Under-5 mortality and morbidity outcomes of fertility postponement in Turkey: explanations by observed and unobserved characteristics.

This paper investigates the association between advanced maternal age and under-5 mortality and morbidity in Turkey, and is the first such study in the country to use a sibling comparison model to analyze this phenomenon. The study is based on data obtained from the 2013 Turkey Demographic and Health Survey, and analyzes the association of advanced maternal age with: (1) under-five mortality, using Cox proportional hazard models and their stratified versions to compare sibling groups born to the same mother in the 1978-2013 period, and (2) under-five morbidity; specifically, being born with low birth weight, stunting, underweight, and wasting based on between- and within-sibling groups models for the 2008-2013 period. Overall, our findings suggest that the hazard of under-5 mortality increases as maternal age increases. We conclude that period effects have failed to reverse the impeding effects of advanced maternal age on child mortality. Between-sibling group models indicate a positive but close to null association between advanced maternal age and child morbidity in general, although these positive associations vanish once we apply within-sibling group models. This result can be partially attributed to our controlling for unobserved characteristics specific to sibling groups, in addition to other methodological differences.

Intimate partner violence and the relation between help-seeking behavior and the severity and frequency of physical violence among women in Turkey.

This study explores the severity and frequency of physical violence from an intimate partner experienced by 15- to 59-year-old women and their help-seeking behavior by using data from the "National Research on Domestic Violence Against Women in Turkey." Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were conducted to compare the relationship between severity and frequency of violence and women's characteristics. Of all ever-partnered women, 36% have been exposed to partner violence; almost half of these experienced severe types of violence. Women used informal strategies to manage the violence instead of seeking help from formal institutions. Help-seeking behavior increases with increased severity and frequency of violence.

Breastfeeding experiences of Turkish women.

AIMS: To describe the experiences of Turkish women regarding traditional breastfeeding practices. BACKGROUND: Breastfeeding is a popular practice in Turkey. Nevertheless, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life is quite low. Merely about 16% of infants aged between 2-3 months are exclusively breastfed, whereas those fed with supplementary foods are 78%. In the light of this data, we argue that traditional breastfeeding practices may be the underlying reason for low rate of breastfeeding. Significant as it is, however, this subject matter has largely been overlooked in the literature in Turkey. DESIGN: A descriptive, qualitative study based on in-depth interviews, with a purposive sample of 24 mothers of four to- 24-month-old babies. METHODS: The background information of the mothers was obtained from the Mother and Child Health and Family Planning Centre that offers specific services for mothers. Mothers were visited at home and data were gathered through semistructured and in-depth, audio-taped interviews. The collected data were analysed using the content analysis method. RESULTS: Three themes emerged from the participants' descriptions of their breastfeeding experiences: (1) influence of the older family members, (2) influence of social learning and (3) influence of the religion. CONCLUSION: This study concluded that traditional breastfeeding practices are still prevalent among mothers, regardless of their age and level of education. Breastfeeding behaviour of mothers was mostly shaped by various cultural social and religious influences imposed on them by their family, close social network and religious community. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nurses can encourage mothers for exclusive breastfeeding by means of individual- and social-based training programmes, which they will prepare in view of traditional breastfeeding practices.