Özet:

Economics, environment, social values and health care delivery systems all affect the health of the communities. Culture and health care is integrally related to the health system and the health programs within it. Health profcssionals if they are to provide a program that really meets the needs of the community should know the social and mental factors that influence the health situation. This study on traditional folk methods related to pregnancy, family planning and abortion has been conducted in the village of Birds, near Bornova, in 1982. A sample of 147 currently married women is randomly chosen, which covered about 50 percent of the eligible women population. The findings of this study showed that 33. 4 percent of women preferred to have medical help to be pregnant, but the remaining '; 66.6 applied some traditional methods. Informing many practices, 71 percent of women believed that they could predict the sex of an unborn baby by using some folk ways, while 55 percent said that they were using folk methods for contraception, some harmful methods were also commonly used for self-induced abortions. All these folk methods explained by village women, indicated that there was an urgent need for a family planning program which includes both contraception practice and a sound health edu - cation, in this village.