Korean Immigrant Women's Taekyo Practices in the United States as a Traditional Prenatal Self-care

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore preserved belief system supporting Korean immigrant women’s Taekyo practices and influencing factors while they observe the tradition within US sociocultural context. Methods: Leininger's exploratory focused ethnographic approach was used. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were con-ducted with purposive sample of sixteen Korean immigrant women who gave birth in the US within last 6 months. Researcher’s observation and reflective field notes were also integrated into the interview data. Leininger and McFarland’s four phases of ethnographic analysis guided data analysis process. Results: The perceived belief sys-tem supporting Taekyo practices included Taekyo as an enculturated Korean tradition, connecting parents with fetus, and positive impacts on fetal development. And Korean immigrant women’s Taekyo practices were influenced by resources of information, woman’s orientation toward Taekyo, pressure from local Korean community, and child order. Conclusion: The findings from this research would serve as an important knowledge base to expand US health care providers ’ understanding of Korean traditional Taekyo practices observed by Korean immigrant women’s as important prenatal self-care practices. The findings could also aid in providing more patient-centered and cultur-ally-tailored prenatal care plan to Korean immigrant by including Korean traditional belief system supporting Taekyo practices