Traditional practices used by infertile women in Turkey S. Ayaz 1 PhD & S.Yaman Efe 2 MSN 1 Assistant Professor, 2 Specialist, Nursing Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey AYAZ S. & YAMAN EFE S. (2010) Traditional practices used by infertile women in Turkey. International Nursing Review 57, 383–387 Background: Numerous traditional methods are used in the treatment of infertility around the world. Aim: To identify the traditional practices of infertile women using one clinic in Ankara,Turkey. Design and Methods: The population comprised all women (5700) who attended one infertility outpatient clinic in 2007. The sample was calculated using sample calculation formula and 410 women were included in the study. The survey method was used for data collection. Findings: Of the responding women, 27.3% had tried a traditional practice, and 67.8% who tried traditional practices used an herbal mixture. The reason for the women’s use of a traditional practice was ‘hope’ (66.9%), and 15.2% of them had experienced an adverse effect related with traditional practice. Maternal education level, perceived economic status, duration of marriage all significantly affected the use of traditional practices (P < 0.05). The women who had received unsuccessful medical treatment for infertility and who had experienced side effects after medical treatment had a higher rate of use of traditional practice (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Almost one in three of the women who responded to the questionnaire had tried traditional methods, and some experienced adverse effects related to the practice. For couples with infertility problems, educational programmes and consultation services should be organized with respect to their traditional culture. Women should be informed about the hazards of traditional practices and avoidance of harmful practices, and continuous emotional support must be provided for infertile couples. In the future, nursing staff should play a much larger role in these supportive services. Keywords: Infertility, Social Factors, Traditional Practices, Turkey, Women Introduction Infertility is an important public health problem that can result in medical and psychosocial problems for both men and women. The frequency of infertility varies from one community to another. It was estimated that more than 186 million ever- married women aged 15–49 years in developing countries were infertile because of primary or secondary infertility (Rutstein & Shah 2004). In Turkey, approximately 17% of women aged 15–49 years are estimated to have secondary infertility (Rutstein & Shah 2004). Motherhood is the primer social role for women in many countries, and it is known that female factors play a part in 40% of infertility cases and male factors in approximately 40% (Cedars & Jaffe 2005). However, especially in traditional com- munities, the cause of infertility is frequently attributed to the women only, and childless women may lose their social and individual rights (Beal 1998; Günay et al. 2005). Childbearing is an important goal of marriage and not being able to have children may result in marital problems. Having a child may provide some sense of stability for the marriage and Correspondence address: Sultan Ayaz, Gazi Üniversitesi Sag ˘lık Bilimleri Fakültesi Hems ¸irelik Bölümü, 06500 Bes ¸evler, Ankara, Turkey; Tel: 00 90 312216 26 23; Fax: 00 90 312216 26 36; E-mail: sultan@gazi.edu.tr. Original Article © 2010 The Authors. International Nursing Review © 2010 International Council of Nurses 383