Examination of traditional methods applied in the care of a newborn child on the basis of children's rights from the perinatal social work point of view: The case of Kahramanmaras province

Perinatal social work provides psychosocial support to ensure adequate compassionate care and support for every woman, child and family. During the birth process, during and after birth, women, children and families need many supports in terms of various care, physical, economic and psychosocial aspects. Within the scope of medical social work, the existing process of adaptation to the new is supported with empowerment approach from social work approaches and perinatal social work interventions. This study was carried out to determine the support that individuals living in Kahramanmaraş need regarding child care and to determine how and from whom these needs are met. For this purpose, it is aimed to determine the traditional child care methods applied to the newborn child, to clarify the positive practices with perinatal social work intervention methods and approaches and to transfer them from generation to generation as a part of culture. At the same time, this study was carried out in order to prevent such applications by separating negative or disease-causing applications and requiring treatment. In this study, which was carried out with a qualitative research design with a phenomenological approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 67 participants determined by the snowball sampling strategy using a semi-structured interview form, and the data of 53 participants were analyzed because the data of 14 participants were excluded for various reasons. In the interview form, questions were asked to determine the characteristics of the care methods applied to the newborn child and to examine the results. The MAXQDA 2020 Program was used in the analysis of the data; descriptive analysis was used to determine the themes, and content analysis was used to determine the codes and sub-themes. As a result of the research, it has been revealed that the people they receive support in the traditional child care methods they apply to the newborn child are mostly family elders, they mostly prefer traditional methods, but when the child gets sick, they take them to health institutions. After discussing the medical suitability of the practices obtained from child care methods with the results of the research in the field of health, the beneficial or harmful ones were determined, and the practices belonging to the culture and belief were explained. All this information has revealed the necessity of taking precautions regarding some traditional practices in order to protect and improve newborn child health. It has emerged that social workers working in health institutions, one of the institutions where the profession provides service, should provide informative trainings on child care to families and provide psychosocial support. In this context, the concept of perinatal social work was introduced to the field for the first time in Turkey. Based on the knowledge-skill-value elements of social work, suggestions were presented for the protection of child health in our country. In this direction, the 'Plan to Support the Care Methods Applied to the Newborn Child' has been developed. It is thought that the model will guide the social work profession, health workers, scientists, volunteers in non-governmental organizations working with children, and parents, and will provide public benefit by forming a basis for preventive public health services.