Concepts of anemia among low income Nicaraguan women

Authors

  • Rita L. Ailinger Georgetown University; School of Nursing & Health Studies
  • Jean B. Moore George Mason University; School of Nursing
  • Lisa Pawloski George Mason University; College of Health & Human Studies
  • Lidya Ruth Zamora Cortés Universidad de Politecnica de Nicaragua

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-11692009000200002

Keywords:

anemia, Nicaragua, Latin America

Abstract

Anemia is a common health problem among women throughout the world, however, there has been minimal research on women's concepts of anemia. The purpose of this study was to examine concepts of anemia in low income Nicaraguan women. A qualitative design was used. Audio-taped open-ended interviews in Spanish with 14 women were used to obtain data. Tapes were transcribed and content analyzed. The findings indicate that few of the women had biomedically accurate concepts of anemia, such as that it was due to lack of iron from poor eating. Others held folk medical beliefs including home remedies, for example drinking the milk of a mare or beet juice and eating certain foods such as bean soup. Most of the women did not know any symptoms of anemia and a few reported that it can develop into leukemia. These concepts of anemia are instructive for nurses working with patients from Nicaragua and will be useful in developing nursing interventions to alleviate this public health problem.

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Published

2009-04-01

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 2 (2009)

Section

Original Articles

License

RLAE’s authorship concept is based on the substantial contribution by each of the individuals listed as authors, mainly in terms of conceiving and planning the research project, collecting or analyzing and interpreting data, writing and critical review. Indication of authors’ names under the article title is limited to six. If more, authors are listed on the online submission form under Acknowledgements. The possibility of including more than six authors will only be examined on multicenter studies, considering the explanations presented by the authors.
Including names of authors whose contribution does not fit into the above criteria cannot be justified. Those names can be included in the Acknowledgements section.
 Authors are fully responsible for the concepts disseminated in their manuscripts, which do not necessarily reflect the editors’ and editorial board’s opinion.

 

How to Cite

Concepts of anemia among low income Nicaraguan women. (2009). Revista Latino-Americana De Enfermagem, 17(2), 147-152. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-11692009000200002