Somalis giving birth in Sweden: a challenge to culture and gender specificvalues and behaviours

Objectives: giving birth in a foreign country implies going through a life event with little or no access to your own traditions and social support. T he aim of this study was to study the childbirth experiences of Somali wome n and men in Sweden. Design: qualitative. Nine women and seven men were interviewed. Data collec tion was characterised by an openness to new ideas during the interview and the interviews were analysed according to the grounded theory technique. Findings: the meeting of Somalis with Swedish antenatal and delivery care w as a multicultural event, It revealed social, medical, cultural and gender factors advocating space in the arena of childbirth,The Somalis constituted a homogeneous group with regard to their cultural belonging and motives fo r exile,The subjects were heterogeneous in that they represented a great va riety in social and demographic background as well as in experiences, feeli ngs and modes of expression. One striking finding was the Somali man's dram atic entrance into childbirth, which seemed to have a strong impact on the Sornali woman's well-being during delivery. The study showed difficulties i n getting used to the Swedish model of parenthood and in finding new role d ivisions in the couple relationship. Some of the subjects had experienced a strengthening of their marriage and an increased understanding of each oth er. Others commented that various aspects of traditional womanhood and manh ood were lost as a result of the unfamiliar gender structures in Sweden, Conclusion: the Somalis' experiences of childbirth in Sweden can be underst ood by using the theoretical concept of gender, rather than culture, Our ow n and other studies show that women and men may have different frames of re ference in childbirth, where the women mainly focus on biological circumsta nces and the men on the social and cultural aspects of birth, The Somali co uple were found to be vulnerably positioned, with the professionals having the important role of supporting and empowering Somali parents, (C) 2000 Ha rcourt Publishers Ltd.