Traditional Methods Known and Practiced by İnfertile Women for İnfertility: A Descriptive Cross Study

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to determine the traditional methods known and practiced by infertile women for infertility. Desing: This study was designed as descriptive and cross-sectional type. Materials and method: The study sample consisted of 153 infertile women who visited the in vitro fertilization (IVF) center of a public hospital. The data were collected using a questionnaire to determine the infertile women’s socio-demographic characteristics, duration of infertility, medical treatment for infertility, family support, feelings about having children in the future, and the traditional methods they knew and used for infertility. Results: Among the traditional methods they knew and utilized for infertility, almost all the infertile women reported praying, 52.9% reported drinking herbal remedies, nearly half of them reported drinking onion juice and consuming fig puree, and 46.4% reported drinking carob juice. Considering the relationship between the duration of infertility and traditional practices known by infertile women regarding infertility, there was a significant difference between longer periods of infertility and the status of knowing traditional practices such as drinking onion juice, visiting holy tombs, consulting a hodja/Muslim preacher, going to thermal springs, and using heat plaster on the back (p