ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author presents the contribution that qualitative research methodology may make in responding appropriately to delicate situations which can arise in conducting research in the area of women's health. She is based on the case study of a Hmong woman which emerges from her ongoing research project on cultural beliefs and practices concerning child-bearing and child rearing and reproductive health in Southeast Asian women. The author discusses the results of an ongoing ethnographic study of reproductive health among Southeast Asian women living in Australia. She examines the women's explanations of childbirth and their concepts of the soul. A content analysis approach was used to discern patterns in Hmong women's beliefs and practices. The author describes the case of a Hmong woman named Mai who had a caesarean operation in a Victorian maternity hospital and attributed her subsequent ill-health to her soul having left her body during the operation.
