A qualitative study on health behaviors of Turkish citizen women immigrated from Syria

This study, it was aimed to determine the post-migration health behaviors of women who came to Turkey from Syria as of 2011, married a Turkish man and became a Turkish citizen. The population of the research, which was carried out using the qualitative research method in the phenomenological design, was composed of Syrian migrant women who migrated to Turkey; The sample consists of 15 Syrian migrant women living in Kilis. The data of the research were collected by in-depth interview technique using the "Semi-structured Interview Form" prepared by scanning the literature and analyzed by descriptive analysis method. Findings of the research were evaluated under ten main themes and sub-themes, including life before migration, the reason for migration, transition to Turkey, life in Turkey-first years, marriage stories in Turkey, marriage in Turkey, traditional practices related to health and illness, access to health services, health behaviors, future perspectives. As a result of the research; It was determined that the women's lives in Syria before the migration were at a more prosperous level than after the migration, they could not complete their education due to the war, their migration was due to the war and the majority of them entered Turkey illegally, and they experienced housing and unemployment problems in the first years in Turkey. It was determined that marriages in Turkey were generally made because of not being a burden on the family, and there were adolescent marriages, miscarriages were experienced, they did not want to have many children, and their mental health deteriorated due to the war. It was determined that in case of illness, women primarily resort to traditional practices where they do not go to the health institution, the most common practices are traditional practices belonging to the birth and postpartum period, and that migrant women have risky health behaviors regarding reproductive health. It was determined that some of the women in Turkey could not use health services effectively due to language barriers in the first years, they were mostly satisfied with health services, and it was easy to adapt to Turkey in language, clothing and food culture. As a result; It can be suggested that nurses should know the cultural structures of Syrian women well, provide health education especially on reproductive health and family planning, and provide psychological support for women to develop positive health behaviors. It is thought that this research will guide other studies to be carried out, as it is the first study conducted with a qualitative method on migration and women's health in the field of public health nursing. Key Words: Migration, Migrant women, Health behavior.