Background: Herbal medicine usage has increased in recent years around the world. Although further research must be conducted into the potential adverse secondary effects associated with certain herbal medicines for pregnant females, significant data shortages surround the issue of women's perceptions of the use of herbal medicines to induce labor. This study was aimed to examine the practices and attitudes of pregnant women toward the use of herbal products to induce labor.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving interviews with full-term pregnant females (n = 340). The descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data, where categorical variables were presented as counts and percentages, and continuous variables were presented as mean ± SD.
Results: About 19.6% of the women discussed herbal usage with their physicians. Younger Saudi females with bachelors degrees were associated with a higher likelihood of doing so, and this relationship was statistically significant. After a discussion with mothers, 69.6% of physicians agreed to use herbal products to induce labor. In addition, 27.4% of women perceived that herbal products had a greater efficacy compared to standard medications
in inducing labor.
Conclusion: A general reluctance was identified in pregnant females regarding the issue of disclosing their use of herbal products to physicians. Herbal medicines were viewed as more effective than standard medications in a majority of participants. Therefore, education programs must be arranged for pregnant females to increase their awareness of the impact of herbal medications, as well as the importance of conforming to the advice that they receive from healthcare professionals.
Key words: Attitude, herbs, induce, labor, practice,
|