Sociocultural study of Kuwaiti women’s beliefs of dietary behaviors during the antenatal period

Abstract

Pregnancy is a critical period associated with numerous emotional, physiological, and social changes. Many factors affect pregnant women’s lifestyle behavior during this transitional period and, consequently, impact both the mother’s and the fetus’s life and health outcomes. This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study that aims to identify from a medical anthropological perspective beliefs among Kuwaiti women who had previously been pregnant about food behaviors during the antenatal period. The main study tool is a questionnaire with two components (socio-demographic data and maternal beliefs of dietary habits during pregnancy) with a total of 32 items, distributed using nonrandom sampling to 619 Kuwaiti women. SPSS used for the data analysis. The data show a statistically significant relationship of participants’ age, religious affiliation, ethnic background, and educational level with their cultural beliefs about dietary habits during the antenatal period (P < 0.05).