Antropología del embarazo, parto y puerperio en la ciudad de Elche

Abstract

El objetivo del estudio ha sido conocer las actitudes que sobre el embarazo, parto y puerperio tenían mujeres residentes en la comarca de Elche, que hubieran tenido hijos hacía más de veinte años. Se entrevistaron a treinta, con edades comprendidas entre los 48 y 87 años (media de 66,4 años); la media de partos fue de 4,6 y el nivel sociocultural era bajo; más de la mitad procedían de lugares de fuera de la comarca pero llevaban viviendo en la zona una media de 46 años. La metodología utilizada fue la entrevista semi-estructurada, utilizando un cuestionario ya validado; las entrevistas se grabaron y posteriormente transcribieron, extrayendo de todas ellas las conclusiones, de las que cabe destacar que las mujeres de nuestro estudio tenían en común: gran número de embarazos; otorgaban gran importancia al tema de la maternidad; tuvieron partos domiciliarios y en la actualidad les inspira más confianza el parto hospitalario; son partidarias de que exista un distanciamiento entre los embarazos pese a que ellas no los tuvieron; no recibieron controles sanitarios; describen a la matrona como la profesional que las atendía en el parto y en el puerperio y quien les bañaba al niño; no creen en la influencia de los astros ni en símbolos religiosos.

The present study was prepared in Elche, in the first part of 1997. The aim was to discover what had been the attitudes towards pregnancy, labour and post-labour of women who had been mothers twenty years earlier. 30 samples were analysed, covering ages between 48 and 87 (average 66.4 years old). The average of child-births was 4.6 and the socio-cultural level was rather low. More than half of the sample mothers were from the outskirts of Elche but had been living in the area for more than 46 years. The method used was a semi-structured interview, with a questionaire already validated. Interviews were recorded and then transcribed. The conclusions were: the sample women had in common a great number of pregnancies. For them all maternity was very important. Most of them were simply house-wives whose main task was «house-work» and perhaps incidentally they helped their husbands. Most of them have given birth at home although they nowadays feel it is safer to give birth in hospitals. Their present feeling is that mothers should not have the number of children they had had, and time between pregnancies should have been longer. They had not received sanitary or health control in their pregnancies. Their reference was always the midwife as the professional in charge of their labour and post-labour, as well as to care for the baby during that period. They neither believe in astrological influence towards the vital process nor do they show faith in religious symbols in the same way.