title: Role of cultural beliefs in influencing selected newborn care practices in rural Haryana.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The role of prevalent culturally driven beliefs and practices in influencing home-based newborn care has not been adequately studied, especially in North India.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted in 28 villages under Comprehensive Rural Health Services Project (CRHSP), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). A total of 415 mothers who had a baby in the second month of life, at the time of the visit for data collection were interviewed using pre-tested questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nearly 77% of mothers reported some beliefs/practices with regard to care of the cord. Similarly, 81.0% mothers had beliefs regarding taking the baby out of the house for the first time after birth. Out of all the mothers that were interviewed, around 11% did not prefer their baby to be weighed at frequent intervals because according to them, doing so could lead to slowing of the growth of the baby.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Traditional knowledge and practices must be considered before developing neonatal health care intervention strategies.
authors.affiliation: Center for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. ravi.p.upadhyay@gmail.com
authors.forename: Ravi Prakash
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Upadhyay
authors.forename: Bir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Sanjay K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Rai
authors.forename: Krishnan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Anand
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007224:Infant Care; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D018743:Perinatal Care; D019035:Rural Health Services; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires