Integrative and complementary practices in health and their use during pregnancy: an integrative review

Abstract

Integrative and complementary practices in health are treatments that use therapeutic resources based on traditional knowledge, aimed at preventing diseases, treating symptoms, and offering a better quality of life. The objective was to describe, through the literature, the benefits of integrative and complementary health practices during pregnancy. This is an integrative literature review, carried out in May 2023, using the DeCS “Pregnancy”, “Complementary Therapies” and “Prenatal Care”. The search was performed double blind by the researchers in the following databases: MEDLINE, LILACS, BDENF, SciELO, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO and CINAHL. At the end, 27 articles were selected and made up the study sample. Two thematic categories were listed: Knowledge and use of Integrative and Complementary Health Practices self-reported by pregnant women; and Benefits of Integrative and Complementary Practices in the assistance to pregnant women by health professionals. The most prevalent ICPH were massage therapy, acupuncture, yoga, herbal medicine, chiropractic, reflexology, aromatherapy, acupressure, naturopathy, and osteopathy. Conclusion: during the prenatal period, it is important for the health professional to recognize the ICPH as a possibility of alternative therapy that helps in the care of the pregnant woman, since she will go through several phases during her pregnancy until the moment of delivery.