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Converging epistemologies: critical issues in Canadian Inuit childbirth and pregnancy.

OBJECTIVES
To relate the cultural beliefs and environmental issues surrounding pregnancy and childbirth among the Canadian Inuit to the critical issues facing maternal and child health in the Inuit population.


STUDY DESIGN
This is a literature based comparative historical study.


METHODS
Anthropological, historical, biomedical and first person narratives were analyzed to determine Inuit beliefs concerning pregnancy and childbirth. These were compared with the risk factors for Inuit maternal and child health identified in the biomedical literature.


RESULTS
Inuit beliefs concerning pregnancy and childbirth are rooted in an epistemological framework that differs in important ways from Southern/ biomedical theoretical norms. Evacuation to Southern hospitals for childbirth and the environmental contaminants discourse have both clashed in significant ways with Inuit beliefs, to the detriment of Inuit physical and social health.


CONCLUSIONS
Inuit beliefs concerning pregnancy and childbirth are incompatible with biomedical theory, but are not incompatible with biomedical practice. As long as researchers and practitioners become aware of Inuit concerns and adapt biomedical practices to accommodate Inuit cultural and social priorities satisfactory clinical outcomes may be expected.