Perspective of mothers on the traditional and complementary medicine in the case of neonatal jaundice: Qualitative study

Neonatal jaundice is one of the most common neonatal problems that occur for various reasons and may lead to brain complications and even death. Considering the effect of mothers' beliefs on the timely referral of neonates for treatment and prevention of its serious complications, this study was performed with aim to identify the women's viewpoint on the traditional and complementary medicine in the case of neonatal jaundice.

This qualitative study was conducted with participation of 103 mothers with different personal and social characteristic in Neyshabour in 2019. Data were collected through focused group discussions and semi-structured individual interviews. Purposeful sampling continued until data saturation. Data were analyzed by conventional content analysis and Atlas.ti software. The proposed methods of Lincoln and Guba were used to evaluate and increase the validity and reliability of the research.

The main extracted concepts included preventive beliefs and therapeutic-based beliefs. The theme of preventive beliefs originated from the subclass of protective nutritional beliefs. In addition, the theme of therapeutic-based beliefs included the subclass of beliefs in herbal medicine, common non-herbal beliefs, nutrition therapy, and alternative therapy.

The preventive and therapeutic-based aspects of traditional and complementary medicine about neonatal jaundice were the important beliefs of mothers. It is suggested that in the health planning and interventions to pay attention to modifying these beliefs in the formation of mothers' behavior for the prevention and treatment of neonatal jaundice.