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Breastfeeding and the cultural configuration of social space among Vietnamese immigrant woman.

Groleau D, Soulière M, Kirmayer LJ

Culture & Mental Health Research Unit, Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital & Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University. danielle.groleau@mcgill.ca

This study aimed to identify cultural factors involved in the abandonment of breastfeeding amongst Vietnamese immigrant women in Canada. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 19 mothers, exploring their perinatal experience from Vietnam to Canada. The results suggest that the decision to bottle-feed was not related to acculturation to local practices as has been claimed in previous studies but to conflicts between Vietnamese cultural practices and the configuration of the new social space in Canada. Living in Canada did not allow specific family members to conduct postnatal traditional rituals thus jeopardizing mothers' perceived health and the quality of their milk. Culturally appropriate strategies to promote breastfeeding among migrants must consider the social and spatial organization of cultural practices.

Published 3 July 2006 in Health Place, 12(4): 516-26.
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