Culture and Health offers an overview of different areas of culture and health, building on foundations of medical anthropology and health behavior theory. It shows how to address the challenges of cross-cultural medicine through interdisciplinary cultural-ecological models and personal and institutional developmental approaches to cross-cultural adaptation and competency. The book addresses the perspectives of clinically applied anthropology, trans-cultural psychiatry and the medical ecology, critical medical anthropology and symbolic paradigms as frameworks for enhanced comprehension of health and the medical encounter. Includes cultural case studies, applied vignettes, and self-assessments.
Culture, Health and Illness is an introduction to the role of cultural and social factors in health and disease, showing how an understanding of these factors can improve medical care and health education. The book demonstrates how different cultural, social or ethnic groups explain the causes of ill health, the types of treatment they believe in, and to whom they would turn if they were ill. It discusses the relationship of these beliefs and practices to the instance of certain diseases, both physical and psychological. This new edition has been extended and modernised with new material added to every chapter. In addition, there is a new chapter on 'new research methods in medical anthropology', and the book in now illustrated where appropriate. Anyone intending to follow a career in medicine, allied health, nursing or counselling will benefit from reading this book at an early stage in their career.
Offering a trenchant analysis of the effect that culture has in determining our perceptions - and expectations - of health care, this provocative volume challenges traditional, Westernized, medical models. The author surveys various aspects of the health education domain, discusses the elements that inform an educational diagnosis of health behaviour and considers the cultural appropriateness of health behaviour in general.
Bringing the hard-to-quantify aspects of lived experience to analysis, and emphasizing what might be lost in interventions if cultural insights are absent, this book includes case studies from across the Asia and Pacific regions –Bangladesh, Malaysia, New Guinea, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Tuvalu and the Cook Islands. When Culture Impacts Health offers conceptual, methodological and practical insights into understanding and successfully mediating cultural influences to address old and new public health issues including safe water delivery, leprosy, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and body image. It contains useful methodological tools – how to map cultural consensus, measure wealth capital, conduct a cultural economy audit, for example. It provides approaches for discerning between ethnic and racial constructs and for conducting research among indigenous peoples. The book will be indispensible for culture and health researchers in all regions. Discusses global application of case descriptions Demonstrates how a cultural approach to health research enriches and informs our understanding of intractable public health problems Covers methods and measurements applicable to a variety of cultural research approaches as well as actual research results Case studies include medical anthropology, cultural epidemiology, cultural history and social medicine perspectives
This book traces the history of formative, enduring concepts, foundational in the development of the health disciplines. It explores existing literature, and subsequent contested applications. Feminist legacies are discussed with a clear message that early sociological and anthropological theories and debates remain valuable to scholars today. Chapters cover historical events and cultural practices from the standpoint of ‘difference’; formulate theories about the emergence of social issues and problems and discuss health and illness in light of cultural values and practices, social conditions, embodiment and emotions. This collection will be of great value to scholars of biomedicine, health and gender.
Culture, Health and Illness is the leading international textbook on the role of cultural and social factors in health, illness, and medical care. Since first published in 1984, it has been used in over 40 countries within universities, medical schools and nursing colleges. This new edition meets the ever-growing need for a clear starting point in
A "one size fits all" approach to health care doesn't work well, especially for America's extremely diverse population. This book provides a lively and accessible discussion of how and why a more flexible and culturally sensitive system of health care can—and must be—achieved. Notable anthropologist George Foster defined the first edition as "a very readable introductory text dealing with the sociocultural aspects of health," adding: "[T]he authors do a commendable job... . I have profited from reading The Cultural Context of Health, Illness, and Medicine". With engaging examples, minimal jargon, and updated scholarship, the second edition of The Cultural Context of Health, Illness, and Medicine offers a comprehensive guide to the practice of culturally sensitive health care. Readers will see America's biomedically dominated health care system in a new light as the book reveals the changes wrought by increasing cultural diversity, technological innovation, and developments in care delivery. Written by a sociologist and an anthropologist with direct, hands-on experience in the health services, the volume tracks culture's influence on and relationship to health, illness, and health-care delivery via an examination of social structure, medical systems, and the need for—and challenges to—culturally sensitive care. Cultural differences are situated against social-class differences and related health inequities, as well as different needs and challenges throughout the life course. In prescribing caring that is more holistic, culturally sensitive, and cost-effective, the work promotes awareness of pressing issues for health care professionals—and the people they serve.
Health professionals provide care to patients of differing religions and cultures, and knowledge of their cultural and religious background, way of life and beliefs and practices is vital to delivering sensitive and responsive care. This revised and updated guide provides practical and comprehensive information on each of the major faiths, providing an accessible reference for appropriate day to day care of patients in multicultural societies. Healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, midwives, healthcare assistants, physiotherapists, psychologists, hospital chaplains and administrative staff will find it an indispensable ready reference.
Culture, Health and Illness: An Introduction for Health Professionals, Second edition discusses the fundamentals of medical anthropology. The book is comprised of 12 chapters that present both the theoretical framework and case histories relevant to the topic. The coverage of the text includes the relationship of culture to various health related concepts, such as pain, pharmacology, stress, and epidemiology. The book also discusses the doctor-patient relation, the various sectors of health care, and the scope of medical anthropology. The text will be of great use to professionals in health related fields. Researchers and practitioners of anthropology, sociology, and psychology will also benefit from this book.
