Abstract
There are several ethnolinguistic groups or ethnicities in the Philippines, and genetic counselors may encounter clients with diverse beliefs, inscribed by their culture, about health conditions. Thus, clients may attribute the cause of a birth defect to a socio-culturally based health belief. The present study aimed to explore the beliefs on the causes of birth defects held by mothers of children diagnosed to have birth defects. The study was conducted as a qualitative descriptive pilot study in Baguio General Hospital and Medical Health Center (BGHMC), a birth defect surveillance site tertiary care hospital in the Philippines. Participants were mothers of children diagnosed to have birth defects at the BGHMC. In-depth interviews were used to collect data from 18 participants aged 18–46 years. Birth defect conditions of the participants’ children included congenital heart defect, cleft lip and palate, hydrocephalus, imperforate anus, hypospadias, and microcephaly. When the participants were asked about their views on the causes of birth defects in their children, they perceived that genetics or heredity, stress, a fall during pregnancy, maternal sickness, teenage pregnancy, thin uterine lining, twin-twin transfusion syndrome, and God’s will have caused it. Findings also showed that mothers of children with the birth defect have both biomedically and socio-culturally based health beliefs. Awareness of these health belief systems will help the genetic counselor provide appropriate genetics education and psychosocial support to their clients.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.
References
Abad PJ, Tan ML, Baluyot MM, Villa AQ, Talapian GL, Reyes ME, Suarez RC, Sur AL, Aldemita VD, Padilla CD, Laurino MY (2014) Cultural beliefs on disease causation in the Philippines: challenge and implications in genetic counseling. J Community Genet 5(4):399–407. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-014-0193-1
American Pregnancy Association. (2012, April 25). Twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). Retrieved from https://americanpregnancy.org/healthy-pregnancy/multiples/twin-to-twin-transfusion-syndrome-71055/
Baba A, Martineau T, Theobald S, Sabuni P, Nobabo MM, Alitimango A, Katabuka JK, Raven J (2020) Developing strategies to attract, retain and support midwives in rural fragile settings: participatory workshops with health system stakeholders in Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of Congo. Health Res Pol Syst 18(1):133. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-020-00631-8
Balangcod TD, Balangcod AKD (2011) Ethnomedical knowledge of plants and healthcare practices among the Kalanguya tribe in Tinoc, Ifugao, Luzon, Philippines. Indian J Tradit Knowl 10(2):227–238
Bamberg C, Hecher K (2019) Update on twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol 58:55–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2018.12.011
Bello AI, Acquah AA, Quartey JN, Hughton A (2013) Knowledge of pregnant women about birth defects. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 13:45. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2393-13-45
Botangen, K. A., Vodanovich, S., & Yu, J. (2017). Preservation of indigenous culture among indigenous migrants through social media: the Igorot peoples. Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2303–2312. https://doi.org/10.24251/HICSS.2017.278
Carmichael SL, Shaw GM, Yang W, Abrams B, Lammer EJ (2007) Maternal stressful life events and risks of birth defects. Epidemiology 18(3):356–361. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ede.0000259986.85239.87
Chamberlain AF (1905) The Bontoc Igorot. Volume I, Albert Ernest Jenks]. Am Anthropol 7(4):696–701
Chen XK, Wen SW, Fleming N, Yang Q, Walker MC (2007) Teenage pregnancy and congenital anomalies: which system is vulnerable? Hum Reprod 22(6):1730–1735. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dem043
Christianson, A., Howson, C. P., & Modell, B. (2006). March of Dimes: global report on birth defects, the hidden toll of dying and disabled children. New York: March of Dimes Global Report on Birth Defects.
Cohen LH, Fine BA, Pergament E (1998) An assessment of ethnocultural beliefs regarding the causes of birth defects and genetic disorders. J Genet Couns 7(1):15–29. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1022812027511
Daack-Hirsch S, Gamboa H (2010) Filipino explanatory models of cleft lip with or without cleft palate. Cleft Palate Craniofac J 47(2):122–133. https://doi.org/10.1597/08-139_1
David-Padilla C, Cutiongco-de la Paz EM, Cavan BCV, Abarquez CG, Sur ALD, Sales RI, Posecion EWC, Orbillo LL, Basilio JA (2011) Establishment of the Philippine birth defects surveillance. Acta Med Philipp 45(4):12–19
de Castro LD, Alvarez AAA (2003) Sakit and Karamdaman: towards authenticity in Filipino concepts of disease and illness. In: Qiu RZ (ed) Bioethics: Asian perspectives a quest for moral diversity. Springer, pp 105–112
Department of Agriculture Philippines. (n.d.). Regional profile: Cordillera Administrative Region. Retrieved from http://car.da.gov.ph/regional-profile/
Feldkamp ML, Carey JC, Byrne JLB, Krikov S, Botto LD (2017) Etiology and clinical presentation of birth defects: population based study. BMJ (clinical Research Ed) 357:j2249. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j2249
Florian V, Katz S (1983) The impact of cultural, ethnic, and national variables on attitudes towards the disabled in Israel: A review. Int J Intercult Relat 7(2):167–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(83)90019-6
Hollier LM, Leveno KJ, Kelly MA, MCIntire D, Cunningham FG (2000) Maternal age and malformations in singleton births. Obstetrics and Gynecology 96(5 Pt 1):701–706. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0029-7844(00)01019-x
Luo YL, Cheng YL, Gao XH, Tan SQ, Li JM, Wang W, Chen Q (2013) Maternal age, parity and isolated birth defects: a population-based case-control study in Shenzhen, China. Plos One 8(11):e81369. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0081369
Murphy NJ, Quinlan JD (2014) Trauma in pregnancy: assessment, management, and prevention. Am Fam Physician 90(10):717–722
Ojofeitimi EO, Elegbe I (1984) Mothers’ beliefs as to causation and prevention of birth defects in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. J R Soc Health 104(3):116–118. https://doi.org/10.1177/146642408410400311
Padgett DK (2012) Data analysis and interpretation. Qualitative and mixed methods in public health. Sage publications, California, United States of America, pp 155–202
Pregnant Teen Help. (2011, September 19). Teenage pregnancy and birth defects. Retrieved from http://www.pregnantteenhelp.org/teenage-pregnancy-and/teenage-pregnancy-and-birth-defects/
Strauss RP (1985) Culture, rehabilitation, and facial birth defects: international case studies. Cleft Palate Journal 22(1):56–62
Swihart DL, Yarrarapu SNS, Martin RL (2021) Cultural religious competence in clinical practice. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing LLC, Treasure Island (FL)
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2019, June 20). Igorot people. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Igorot
Wagner S, Repke JT, Ural SH (2013) Overview and long-term outcomes of patients born with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. Rev Obstet Gynecol 6(3–4):149–154
Wang VO (1994) Cultural competency in genetic counseling. J Genet Couns 3(4):267–277. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01412372
Weinhold B (2009) Environmental Factors in Birth Defects: What We Need to Know. Environ Health Perspect 117(10):A440–A447
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the mothers for sharing their time and knowledge. We would like to thank the BGHMC and its staff and employees for allowing the conduct of this study in their institution and for assisting during data collection. We also thank Jerome Padilla and Emma Liza Dacquigan for transcribing and translating the interview transcripts respectively. Moreover, we are very grateful to the Master of Science in Genetic Counseling (MSGC) family for their unwavering support.
Funding
This study was funded by the Department of Science and Technology-Accelerated Science and Technology Human Resource Development Program (DOST-ASTHRDP) scholarship grant, a national scholarship research grant in the Philippines.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
EBFD: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing original draft, visualization. MJRT: writing—review and editing, visualization. MYL: supervision, writing- review and editing. SDH: supervision, writing—review and editing. CLTS: supervision, writing- review and editing. MCGC: supervision, writing—review and editing. CDP: supervision, writing—review and editing. LREJ: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, supervision, writing—review and editing.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Felipe-Dimog, E.B., Tumulak, MA.J.R., Laurino, M.Y. et al. Beliefs on the causes of birth defects as perceived by mothers of children with birth defects in a tertiary care hospital in the Philippines. J Community Genet 13, 183–191 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-021-00543-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-021-00543-2