traditional health practices Flashcards
what is a world view
the way we think the world works, and how we fit into it
why should we know about traditional practices
turmeric, religious restriction, refuse surgeries example the whole in the heart problem becasue believe that the scare will be with them forever in t
future lives, johovah witness against blood transfusion
what factors influened justines health
justines grandmas - due to traditional pratices, led the mother feeling guilty. the grandma never went to the doctors
what is lifes Road Map
Worldview → Life’s Road Map • Our worldview determines our: – Decisions – Our life goals – What we think will makes happy – How we spend our money – How we treat others • Really difficult to live according to what you dont think
hidden world view; Canon
image is everthing: image is more important than substance
hidden world view;thirst is everything obey your thirst
follow after your desires
Worldview evident in healthcare decisions
May appear indifferent in terminal illness due to
belief in reincarnation
• Belief in faith healing may contradict healthcare
recommendations, example?
• Preservation of life vs. denial of sustaining care
• Practitioner decision rather than family decision
what is the biomedical world view
• American (North American) majority worldview
• Conventional system of healthcare is biomedicine
– Based on scientific findings
– Treats disease using latest technologies
• 70 - 90% of sickness managed outside the biomedical
system
– Home remedies
– Popular therapies
– Complementary and alternative medicine
– 11 Billion to 40 Billion in USA (Past decade)
• Biomedical care often in conjunction with these other
systems
what percentage of people look for help outside the medical system- naturapath, example for a cold…
70-90%
why are some ppl hard to reach
• Healthcare professionals:
– Clients with different cultural background from
the majority:
Hard to reach
• Client with different cultural background:
– Health professionals who refuse to provide
culturally appropriate care:
Hard to reach
psychosomatic symptoms
– Symptoms outside the numerical confirmation:
what is the realtionship to nature
• Biomedicine adheres to the concept of mastery over
nature
• Health can be measured numerically
– Measurements outside the normal range indicate disease
• Standardized definition of diseases
– Symptoms outside the numerical confirmation:
psychosomatic symptoms
• No consideration of culture or ethnic background
Personal control vs. Fate
• Biomedicine: little room for chance • Based on scientific rationality • Personal responsibility to make the choices that prevent diseases – Food choices – Physical activity – Cigarette smoking
state of being
• Biomedical view: – Active participation in cure – Emphasis on doing, not being • Other views: – Client passivity (dont want to change anything just want medications) – Acceptance of adverse conditions – Recipients of healing not participants
role of the individual
Biomedical Worldview:
– Individuals are a single, biological units not a
member of a family or particular cultural group
– Cure dependent on personal behavior
– Assumption: Person desires privacy (ask father to wait outside)
• Keep medical matters quiet
– Provider-patient partnership
human equality vs. rank/status rank/stat
Biomedical Worldview:
– All patients deserve equal access to care
• Cost?
• Location?
• Convenience?
• Other worldviews:
– Service to younger people vs. older ill people
– Wealthy people can purchase care,
• A hierarchy of biomedical professionals
• Inferiority of the client
aging
• Biomedical view: value on youthfulness
– Postponing aging process
• Plastic surgery
• Technological prolongment
• Alternative interventions for everlasting youth
• Direct conflict with other cultural worldviews
– Honor the wisdom that come
perceptions of time
• Biomedical view: – Future-oriented – Act today, benefit tomorrow – Long-term prevention strategies • Diet – Waiting list for • Surgery • Diagnostic methods • Therapies • Other – Focus on urgent present health problems
Degree of formality/directness
• Biomedical hierarchy
– Informal dialog between patient and provider
• Addressing the client by first name
• Expecting to be addressed with formal titles
• Limited time for a small talk
– Value honest, open communication
• Other cultural worldviews
– Value indirect communication
– Family not the patient, should be told about serious
conditions
Materialism
• Biomedical view:
– Each disease has certain cause, specific symptoms, expected test
results, and predictable response to treatment.
– An illness isn’t real unless it is clinically significant
– Mind-body duality
– Emotional & social issues: not relevant
– Somatization
– Somatic symptoms; most common presentation of psychological
diseases
• Other cultures:
– Mind and body: unified whole
– Emotional needs of the patients needs to be addressed
– Spiritual intervention
what is heALTH
• World Health Organization (WHO) “a state of
complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not
merely an absence of disease or infirmity.”
Other cultures include natural, spiritual and
supernatural dimensions of health.
• Health may be less dependent on symptoms than on
the ability to accomplish daily responsibilities.
Meaning of health in other cultures
• Harmony with nature • Absence of unpleasant environmental forces • Dependent on relationship with universe • Pleasing ancestor spirits • Mind-body-soul • Can accomplish daily responsibilities
WHAT ARE THE HEALTH ATTributes
• Physical – skin color – wt maintenance – hair • Normal body functions • Bowel function • Menstruation • Undisturbed sleep • Appropriate energy levels • Behavioral norms
body image
Perceptions of wt, health, & beauty differ worldwide
• Thinness is important in the western countries
– Historically associated with poor diet and disease
• Africans, Caribbean Islanders, Filipinos, Mexicans,
Middle Easterners, American Indians, Pacific
Islanders
– Value overweight
• Values change with immigration
Three broad areas of intercultural agreement on
health habits
Diet
• Sufficient rest
• Cleanliness
what are north american health habits compared to others
North American health habits • 3 Meals a Day • Daily shower/bath • Alcohol? • Smoking? • Fat • Fiber • Calcium • Fresh fruits and vegetables • Exercise? • Regular health checkups Other cultures • Dressing warmly • Avoiding going outdoors with wet hair • Daily doses of cod liver oil (british) • Molasses • Natural amulets – Camphor bags or garlic cloves • Faith – Blessings of the throat – Wearing holy medals
desease
Abnormalities or malfunctioning of body organs
and systems
illness
– Perceptions of and reactions to a physical or
psychological condition
sickness
– Entire disease-illness process
explanatary models for health and desease
• Immediate causes
– Bacterial/vital infections, toxins, tumors, injury
• Underlying causes
– Smoking, high cholesterol, glucose intolerance,
nutritional deficiencies
• Ultimate causes
– Hereditary predisposition, environment, obesity
Sickness due to the natural world
• Environmental – Weather, allergens • Wind or bad air – Common in some cultures – enters body through pores, orifices • Humoral – Disharmony with environment • Astrology – Determines fate • Natural forces – Lightning, falling rocks
sickness du to the social world
Sickness due to the social world • Evil Eye – Common belief – Children most vulnerable – Can project harm on another person • Conjury – Illness directed towards a person by one with imputed powers • Brujos or brujas • Sorcerers • Root or herb doctors • Voodoo or hoodoo doctors
Sickness due to the supernatural world
• Caused by the actions of gods, spirits, or ghosts of ancestors • Spirit possession • Wicked spirits • Soul loss
medical pluralism
• Consecutive or concurrent use of multiple healthcare
systems
– Complementary & Alternative Medicine 38% of adults,
12%children
• Acculturation is not associated with a rise in the use of
biomedical services
• Widespread in western countries
• Some unconventional therapies are effective
– physiologically or psychologically
cultural imposition
– The tendency of health care providers to enforce their
beliefs, practices, and values upon clients, because they
believe their ideas are superior
