This powerpoint presentation describe about family and cultural factors that impact health and health behaviours. It highlights the definition of family, types of family, functions and impact of family on the health of an individual. It also highlights the impact of cultural factors on health and health behaviour.

1. Understanding
the Impact of
Socio-Cultural Factors
and Family
on Health and Disease

2. Family
Definition: “group of biologically related individuals
living together and eating from a common kitchen”
• Share a pool of genes
• Share a common physical and social environment
• Reflects the culture of the wider society
• An epidemiological unit
• A unit for providing social services as well as
comprehensive medical care

3. Types of Families
1 Nuclear Families
Married couple and their dependent children
2 Joint Family
Married couples and their children living together
in the same household
3 Three generation family
A household where there are representatives of
three generations

4. Nuclear family
• Consists of the married couple and their dependent children
• Tend to occupy the same dwelling space
• Husband usually plays a dominant rol
• Greater burden of responsibilities for child rearing
• Husband-wife relationship is likely to be more intimate
• “New families” – those under 10 years duration and consists
of parents and children

5. Joint family
• It consists of a number of married couples and their children
who live together in the same household
• All the property is held in common
• All the authority is vested in the senior male member
• The familial relations enjoy primacy over marital relations
• There is a sharing of responsibilities practically in all matters
which gives the family a greater economic and social security

6. Functions
of family
Residence
Division of
labour
Reproduction
& bringing up
children
Socialization
Economic
functions
Social care

7. Family in Health and Disease

8. CHILD REARING
• It is the physical care of the dependent young
• Child rearing differs enormously from society to society,
and from time to time
• Patterns of child care are passed on from one generation to another
• In many societies, child care is socially determined by tradition
• These traditions can become obstacles when the community health
worker seeks to improve the health of the child

9. SOCIALIZATION
• It refers to the process whereby individuals develop
qualities essential for functioning effectively in the
society in which they live
• By socialization is meant teaching the young the values of society and
transmitting information, culture, beliefs, general codes of conduct, by
example and precept, in order to make them fit for membership in the
wider society of which the family is a part

10. PERSONALITY FORMATION
• Experience in family greatly determines the capacity
of an individual to withstand stress and strain and the
way in which he interacts with other people
• The family acts as a “placenta” excluding various influences, modifying
others that pass through it and contributes some of its own in laying
the foundation of physical, mental and social health of the child

11. CARE OF DEPENDENT ADULTS
Care of the sick and injured
• The family is charged with the responsibility of caring
• The family is expected to provide the front-line care, particularly the
mother
• Much depends upon her understanding of illness and the extent she
believes herself capable of providing nursing care
• Studies have shown that the family does more nursing than the
hospital, even in highly developed countries

12. Care of women during pregnancy and child birth
• Care of women during periods of recognized dependency, i.e.,
pregnancy and childbirth is an important function of the family
• The attitude of society to pregnancy and child-bearing may have
an important bearing on the infant deaths, premature and
stillbirths, maternal morbidity and mortality

13. Care of the aged and handicapped
• The increased number of elderly & handicaps have
created new problems in terms of long term care and
specialist facilities
• Without the support of the family, no amount of medical care
can succeed
• In India, the joint family provides for such support

14. STABILIZATION OF ADULT PERSONALITY
• The family is like a “shock absorber” to the stress and
strains of life
• It provides an opportunity for release of tension so that the
individual can attain mental equilibrium and strive to maintain a stable
relationship with other people
• The family has an important function in the stabilization of the
personality of both adults and children, and in meeting their emotional
needs

15. FAMILIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY TO DISEASE
• The members of a family share a pool of genes and a common
environment, and these decide their susceptibility to disease
• Certain diseases such as haemophilia, colour blindness, diabetes and
mental illness are known to run through families
• Schizophrenia, psychoneurosis and some forms of mental deficiency
are also known to have a familial incidence
• The family is often playground for communicable diseases because of
the common environment

16. BROKEN FAMILY
• A broken family is one where the parents have separated,
or where death has occurred of one or both the parents
• Children who are victims of broken families early in their childhood
have been found sometimes to display in later years psychopathic
behaviour, immature personality and even retardation of growth,
speech and intellect
• Children from these families may drift away to prostitution, crime and
vagrancy

17. PROBLEM FAMILIES
• Problem families are those which lag behind the rest of
the community
 Standards of life are far below the accepted minimum
 Parents are unable to meet the physical and emotional
needs of their children
 Home life is utterly unsatisfactory
• Children who are reared in such an environment are
victims of prostitution, crime and vagrancy

18. Cultural factors in Health and
Disease

19. Concept of aetiology and cure
SUPERNATURAL CAUSES
• Wrath of gods & goddesses
• Breach of taboo
• Past sins
• Evil eye
PHYSICAL CAUSES
• Effects of weather
• Water
• Impure blood

20. Environmental sanitation
• Disposal of human excreta
• Disposal of wastes
• Water supply
• Housing

21. Food habits
• Diet of the people is influenced by local conditions,
religious customs and beliefs
• Religion plays important role in meat consumption & fasting
• In some societies, men eat first and women last and poorly
• Food is a subject of widespread customs, habits and beliefs,
which vary from country to country, and from region to region

22. Mother & Child Health
• GOOD CUSTOMS: prolonged breast-feeding, oil bath, massage
• BAD CUSTOMS:
 Some foods are forbidden during pregnancy in some parts of
the country
 In rural areas, deliveries may be conducted by the traditional
untrained dai
• UNCERTAIN: practice of applying kajal or black soot mixed with oil to
the eye-lids

23. Personal Hygiene
• Oral hygiene
• Bathing
• Shaving
• Smoking
• Purdah
• Sleep
• Wearing shoes

24. Sex & Marriage
• Sexual customs vary among different social,
religious and ethnic groups
• These customs have an important bearing in family planning
• Early marriages in India is considered a sound and desirable practice,
because late marriages may create problems in adjustment
• Universality of marriage in India decreases problems of unmarried
mothers and of illegitimate births esp. compared to western countries

25. Conclusion
• Family plays an important part both in health and disease
 in prevention and treatment of individual illness
 in care of children and dependent adults
 in stabilization of personality of both adults and children
• All people, whether rural or urban, have their own beliefs and practices
concerning health and disease – some good, some bad
• It is now widely recognized that cultural factors are deeply involved in all
the affairs of man, including health and sickness

26. THANK YOU