[Cultural myths on the use of analgesia in labor: A cross-sectional study in Nigerian women].

OBJECTIVE: Pain is termed as a subjective phenomenon, however almost all women acknowledge that labor pain is the most severe form of pain a woman experiences in her lifetime. Obstetric analgesia is underutilized in developing countries due to cultural myths and taboos. Hence, the present study aims to identify Nigerian women's knowledge of labor analgesia and to explore what myths and factors hinder with the use of analgesia in labor.

METHOD: A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design was adopted in this study. The population of the study predominantly consisted of pregnant women from the «Yoruba ethnic group». An adapted semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from participants from selected Health Care Centers in Ekiti state, Nigeria. The collected data was analyzed using a descriptive and inferential statistics and was represented in form of tables and charts with level of significance set at p ≤ 0.05.

RESULTS: A total of 236 respondents were included in the study (n = 236). Findings from this study revealed that, the participants showed very poor knowledge on labor pain management strategies, with only 26.3% being aware of pain management strategies used in relieving labor pain. An elevated number of the participants (56.8%) believed that labor pain should not be relieved with the use of drugs, strongly agreeing that analgesia was «a sign ofweakness» (57.2%). Also, more than half (51.7%) of participants had fears that pain relief administered during labor can cause harm to the unborn baby. Belief that experiencing labor pain completes one's motherhood (49.6%), Religion (50.4%) and Culture (54.5%), were reported as factors influencing the uptake/acceptance of labor analgesia among participants. Furthermore statistical significant association was found between educational level of participants and knowledge of labor analgesia among participants (p value = 0.000; p ≤ 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Cultural myths on the use of analgesia exist among participants. It is suggested that women-centered education should be targeted toward eliminating these myths and increasing awareness about labor analgesia.