Ethnographic study of experiences of Pakistani women immigrants with pregnancy, birthing, and postpartum care in the United States and Pakistan.

STUDY
PURPOSE: Describe the comparative birthing experiences of Pakistani immigrant women in Pakistan and the United States. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: The framework was drawn from Berry's cultural adaptation, Glick-Schiller et al.'s transnationalism and Berkman's social network.
METHODOLOGY: Qualitative
DESIGN: Women experienced difficulties associated with inability to observe cultural traditions and loss of extended, gendered kin support. Adaptive strategies were evident through development of social networks of weak ties with non-kin groups in the United States, maintenance of transnational ties with kin back in Pakistan, and assimilation of less gender-defined roles by women and their spouses.