Discussing the cultural perspectives and Health related details using Biomedical model. This whole discussion will cover psychopathology, health related issues and cultural beliefs

2. CULTURE AND HEALTH
CULTURE :
Tylor defined “ the culture as all capabilities and
habits learned as a member of society’’.
Study of culture is called ETHNOGRAPHY.
 Culture has very important contribution to the
etiology , maintence of health and treatment of
deseases .
Etiology : branch of science that concerned with
causes and origins of diseases .

3. CULTURALDIFFERENCESIN THE DEFINTIONOF HEALTH
• WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ( WHO )
Defined health as “ the state of complete physical ,
mental and social well-being and not merely absence of
desease ” .
• Native America : explain health on the basis of wellness
model of health , physical , mental
social , and spritual well being .
Circle of wellness
model of health by native
Americans .

4.  BIOMEDICAL MODEL (United States) :
Desease resulting from a specific ,identifiable cause originating
from inside the body .these cause may be viral ,bacterial and
pathogens” .
for example :cardiovascular deseases linked to specific
pathogens such as clotting from lipids and cholesterol.
 Biomedical model of diseases also influence our abnormal
behaviour .
 Psychological approaches views that origin of abnormal behaviour
within person , such abnormalities results from
 lack of gratification or overgratification
 instinctual processes
 learned processes.

5.  China and ancient Greece : Viewed “health not only as the absence of
negative states but also as the presence of positive one”
Concept of health based on” the principles of yin and yang which
represent positive and negative states”Balance between two forces results in
good health
 Fiest and Branon :
“many of the leading causes of death are directly and indirectly
lifestyles choices and unhealthy behavior”.

6. • Mulatu and Berry : point out that “ health perspective
may differ between individuals of dominant culture and
those nondominant cultural group”.
• Concept of culture not only differ in culture but also in
pluralistic culture also such as United States or Canada
•Huff : Argues tha “the concept of health held by various
ethnicity and immigirant group”
Our own views on health are changing as our culture
increasingly.

7. CULTURAL AND CONCEPTION OF BODY
Conception of human body influences how people of different
cultures approach health and diseases, Treatment ,types of
diseases affect them
 MachLachlan :
suggested that culture have different metaphors for how they
conceptualized the human body .
He pointed out common theories of deseases in
many Latin America cultures “involve balance between hot and
cold
 These terms do not refers to temperature but to the intrinsic
power of different substances in body.some illness or states are

8.  Hippocrates : “ suggested that body is composed of
four humors ,blood ; phlegm ; yellow bile and black bile .
Too much excess and little amount lead the body un-
balnce and result in deseases .
Derivatives of these humors –such as sanguine ,
phlegmatic, and choleric are used in health and medical.
 Social and cultural factors play major role in perception
of ones own and other body shapes ,and these
perception influence the relationship between culture
and health .
for example ; number of studies have found that
an inverse relationship between social class and body
weight in many american and European cultures ;that is
individuals of higher social class generally have lower
body weights than individuals of lower social class .

9. Cultural discrepancies & physical health
 Discrepancies between personal values and culture of the society
stress.
 This difference in self and ideal is associated with greater need of
coping.
 Coping has affect on emotions and moods, in turn causing depression
and anxiety
 Which in turn lead to more physical health issues.

10. Personal
values/
Societal
conflicts
stress coping
Self/
ideal
emotions,
moods
Depression,
anxiety
Physical
health issues

11. Culture and eating disorders
 Studies has revealed negative correlation between body weight and
income.
 But in some countries, relationship is totally opposite,
 cultural differences in perception of stereotypes about thinness and
obesity… example, Ghanians and americans.

12. Culture and eating disorders
 Cultural differences Within countries:
 fatness is appeared to be related with cultural differences in
attitudes towards eating behavior.
 Low self esteem, high public self consciousness eating
behaviors and body dissatisfaction.
 US vs PAKISTANI females…

13. Low self
esteem
public self
conciousnes
Prob. Eating
behaviors
Body
dissatisfaction
depression anxiety
Anorexia
bulimia

14. Culture and suicide
 Japanese glorified acts of suicide( called seppuku, hara-kiri), basis
for story known as chuushingura.
 19th century , their businessman have committed suicide due to
companies downturn .
 Japan is the only culture in which suicide has been examined
psychologically and cross-culturally.

15. Culture and suicide
Studies seem to point certain factors as predictors:
1. Profound cultural changes.
2. Sociocultural changes.
3. Stresses associated with social and cultural changes.
4. High rates of suicide occur in individualistic than in collectivistic
cultures.
5. cultures that foster high perceptions of external control are
associated with high suicide rates.

16. CULTURALINFLUENCESON ATTITUDESANDBELIEFSRELATEDTOHEALTHANDDISEASE:
CULTURE EFFECT HEALTH IN MANY WAYS:
1.Cultureaffectsattitudesabouthealthcareandtreatment.
2.Attributionaboutthecausesofhealthanddiseaseprocesses.
3.Theavailabilityofhealthcareandhealthcaredeliverysystem.
4.Helpseekingbehaviors,and
5.Manyother aspects ofdiseaseandhealthcare.

17. Different studies conductedto knowcultural differences in matter of attitudesand beliefs:
 Study byMatsumoto and hiscolleagues(1995)
StudyofAttitudesandValuesrelatedtoOsteoporosisanditsTreatmentonJapaneseandJapaneseAmericanwomen
overtheageof 55livinginSanFranciscoBayArea.
 Mostinterestingresultsof thisstudyweretheculturaldifferencesfoundintheattitudessurveyandhealthcareissue
assessment.
Theentiresampledivideinto2groups:
 ThosebornandraisedintheUS,whospokeEnglishastheirprimarilylanguage.
 ThosebornandraisedintheJapan,whospokeJapaneseastheirprimarilylanguage.

18. 1. Whenasked abouttypeof problems theywould haveiftheywerediagnosed withosteoporosis:
=>>More Japanesewomen reported problems with finances andwith finding help.
=>>More Americanwomenreported “other” problems, including mobility.
2. Whatproblems theywould haveif theyhadto takecareof someonewithosteoporosis:
=>>More Japanesewomen mentioned not enough time.
=>>More Americanwomenagain mentioned“others” problems involving theirphysicalabilities.
3. Whattypesof support servicesthewomen would want tohaveavailable iftheywerediagnosed withosteoporosis:
=>>More Japanesewomen reported thattheywanted institutions, temporary homes,re-habilitation centers,nursing
homes,information services,socialservicesorganizations, andorganizations tofind help.
=>>More Americanwomenreported wanting “others” servicessuchas medical care.

19. DominoandLin(1993)
 AskedstudentsofTaiwanandUStoratevarious
metaphorsrelatedtocancer.
 Themetaphorswerethenscoredaccordingto4
differentscales.
=>>Result:
Taiwanstudentshadsignificantlyhigherscoresthen
AmericanonbothTerminalpessimismandFuture
optimism.
Cook (1994)
 Reported differences inbeliefs aboutchronicillness and
role of socialnetworks amongChinese, Indian,and
Canadians.
 Instudy,Cook asked participants from all3cultural
groups torespond to3scales designedtoassess:
1. Psychosocial,
2. Phenomenological,and
3. Social networkingissues related to treatment options,
illness, andSocialsupport.
=>> Result: Data analysis indicatedsignificantdifferences
amongthe3cultural groups onratings.

20. Other studies conductedin the past decade:
 EdmanandKameoka(1997)
=>>DocumentedculturaldifferencesbetweenFilipinos
Americansinillnessschemaandattribution.
 PoolandTing(1995)
=>>DocumenteddifferencesbetweenEuro-Canadianand
Indo-Canadianpatient’sattributestowardsmaternity
care.
 Guinn(1998)
=>>ReporteddataonMexicanAmericanadolescents
documentingtheimportanceofpsychological
variablessuchaslocusofcontrolininfluencingbeliefs
abouthealth.
 SunandStewart(2000)
=>>Reported dataonHongKongpatientswithcancer,
foundthatLocusofControlwaspositivelyassociated
withpsychologicaladjustment.

21. Health depending on level of acculturation:
QuahandBishop(1996)
 ChineseAmericans
Results:
=>>ThoseratethemselvesmoreChinesebelievedthat
diseaseisduetoimbalanceinbody(excesscoldor
heat).
=>>ThoseratethemselvesloweronbeingChinese,believed
diseaseisduetoviruses(Westernbiochemicalviewof
illness).
ArmstrongandSwartzmann(1999)
 AsianCanadians
Results:
=>>ThosewithhighorientationstowardAsian culture,
endorsetraditionalChineseviewsofhealth.
=>>Furthermore, thoseendorsingtraditionalChinese
medicalbeliefsalsoreportedbeinglesssatisfiedwith
Westernmedicalcare.

22. Model of cultural influences on physical health

23. Cultural differences in dealing with illness:-
Different cultures deal differently with illness. Illness is basically a
specific condition that prevents your body or mind from working
normally. Different countries and cultures have developed their
own unique ways of dealing with health care. It ranges from their
believes about the disease, pain experiences and expressions to
their acceptance of preventive or health promotion measures.
Development
of culturally
sensitive
treatment
approaches
Differences
in health
care and
medical
delivery
system

25. Differences in health care and medical delivery system
A country’s health care delivery system is a product of
many factors including social and economic development,
technological advances and availability, and the influences
of neighboring and collaborating countries.
National health systems of a country also decide the type of
health care and medical delivery system. Any national
health system in a country at any stage of economic
development may be analyzed according to five principal
component parts: resources, organization, management,
economic support, and delivery of services.
For instances, the United States is an example of a country
with a relatively high economic level that uses an
entrepreneurial system of health care.
The former Soviet Union, Cuba, and China have socialist
health system.

27. Development of culturally sensitive treatment
approaches
People of different cultural backgrounds differ from one another, the health
professions are becoming aware of the need to develop culturally sensitive and
appropriate treatments approaches.
Nemoto and colleagues (1998), for example, examined cultural factors such as
family support in the treatment and prevention of drug abuse in Filipino and Chinese
individuals. One of the findings of this study was that some drug users received
financial support from family members who knew the recipients drug habits. The
authors concluded that culturally sensitive and appropriate treatment needs to
involve family if the treatment is to be effective but the family members tried not to
talk about problems in the family, yet continued to provide financial support to the
user.
Besides family a host of variables may include religion and spirituality, social
support networks, language barriers, shame, face, and many others.

30. SHOULD WE ASK
YOU???