“I don’t know if I have the courage”: reproductive choices in times of Zika

Authors

Ana Rosa Linde Arias, University of Massachusetts BostonFollow
Elisa Tristan-Cheever, Cambridge Health Alliance
Grace Furtado, University of Massachusetts Boston
Eduardo Siqueira, University of Massachusetts BostonFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-6-2019

Abstract

Neste estudo transnacional, pretendemos fornecer informações sobre as opiniões e atitudes das mulheres em relação aos seus direitos reprodutivos durante a epidemia do Zika. Mulheres de diferentes nacionalidades e etnias foram recrutadas em vários locais do Brasil, Porto Rico e Estados Unidos. Foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas que sugerem que as decisões reprodutivas dos participantes estavam intimamente relacionadas às convicções pessoais e crenças culturais, e suas ações e pensamentos foram incorporados em suas normas socioculturais. A maioria das mulheres entrevistadas comunicou que é preciso coragem para tomar a decisão extrema, emocional e esmagadora de fazer um aborto. Os achados deste estudo sugerem que mulheres de diferentes países e regiões, e com diferentes níveis de capital social, enfrentam os mesmos conflitos relativos às decisões reprodutivas. Assim, defendemos a importância de considerar crenças e comportamentos culturais ao implementar medidas de prevenção ou proteção à saúde para controlar epidemias. Esta epidemia pode ser mais uma oportunidade para melhorar a saúde das mulheres, fortalecendo serviços de planejamento familiar culturalmente sensíveis e um amplo espectro de intervenções de saúde pública.

In this transnational study, we aimed at providing insights into women’s views and attitudes towardstheir reproductive rights during the Zika epidemic. Women of distinct nationalities and ethnicities were recruited from various locations in Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the United States. We conducted semistructured interviews that suggest that participants reproductive decisions were intimately related to personal convictions and cultural beliefs, and their actions and thoughts were embedded in their sociocultural norms. The majority of women interviewed communicated that it takes courage to make the extreme, emotional, and overwhelming decision to have an abortion. The findings of this study suggest that women from different countries and regions, and with different levels of social capital, faced the same conflicts concerning reproductive decisions. Thus, we argue for the importance of considering cultural beliefs and behaviors when implementing health prevention or protection measures to control epidemics. This epidemic may be yet another opportunity for the improvement of women’s health by strengthening culturally sensitive family planning services, and a broad spectrum of public health interventions.

Comments

This article was published as an open access article in Journal of Human Growth and Development, 2019 29 (1): 14-21: http://www.journals.usp.br/jhgd/article/view/150807

Recommended Citation

Linde Arias, Ana Rosa; Tristan-Cheever, Elisa; Furtado, Grace; and Siqueira, Eduardo, "“I don’t know if I have the courage”: reproductive choices in times of Zika" (2019). Gastón Institute Publications. 242.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/gaston_pubs/242

Publisher

Journal of Human Growth and Development