Medical Anthropology Exam 2

Compliance/adherence

the degree to which a patient correctly follows medical
advice

Noncompliance

failure/refusal to comply with medical advice

• Can be caused by lack of awareness

Different enthnomedical beliefs, language, etc effect compliance.

How does noncompliance and compliance related to Spirit?

• When Lea’s parents were not giving her the proper dosage of her medication- Medication compliance (language barrier)

• When she gained weight and the father doesn’t agree to cut back on food due to culture.

• Knowledge and language barrier

What cultural beliefs do we see about birth in Spirit?

Digging holes and planting the placenta

Catching the baby

No noise while in labor

Ethnomedical system

The medical system that a culture follows is referred to as their

Ethnomedical system is an organized set of ideas that refers to a particular healing tradition and has 3 main components:

• Theory of etiology
  • System of diagnosis
  • Techniques of appropriate therapy

Cognitive and behavioral components to ethnomedical systems

• Cognitive- theories of causation, disease categories by cause
  • Behavioral- interactions between healers and patients

Ethnomedicine

study of cultural knowledge about illness and its linkages to differential diagnosis and curative actions (Brown and Closser)

What are symbols and rituals of Western medicine?

Hippocratic oath

Four major areas of disease causation are recognized

a. Individual body
b. Natural world
c. Social and economic world
d. Supernatural and spiritual world

Four main theories of disease process are recognized

• Imbalance

• Natural pathogenic

• punishment

• fate

Traditional Medicine

focuses on holistic treatments, nature- based remedies, and is interested in the balance of mind, body, and environment (WHO)

Several major successes of modern medicine have originated
from traditional medicine (four examples)

• Aspirin
  • Oral contraceptive
  • Malaria control
  • Smallpox vaccine

Shaman:

religious healer connected to the supernatural

BECOMING A HEALER

• Divination
  • Visitation during a dream
  • Apprentice- appointed by experienced healer
  • Has had an illness/has suffered
  • Single intense religious/spiritual experience
  • Some power inborn; Birth signs
  • Biomedicine- grades, standardized tests, interviews,
  references, personal statements

Medical Pluralism

multiple healing processes in one culture

Globalization

describes the increased interdependence of the world’s economies, cultures, and populations, resulting from global trade, technology, and the global flow of investment, people, and I.

Urbanization

the movement of increasing numbers of people from rural areas to cities

Urban Density

concentration of people in a city, measured by the total number of people per square mile

Migration

movement of people from one geographic area to another for the purpose
of resettling

Immigration

the act of entering one country from another to take up permanent residence

Emigration

the act of leaving one country to live permanently in another

Internal Migration

movement of a population within a country

How are globalization and disease connected?

1) International travel and migration

2) Global Food Systems

3) Urbanization and inequality

4) Global Communication and medicine

Infectious disease

caused by microorganisms (pathogens), provoke immune response or other dysfunction

Direct Transmission

(eating, sexual contact, skin- to skin contact, nursing, sneezing, coughing)

Vector Borne

(mosquito, water with fecal
waste, tainted needles)

Epidemic

increase in incidence of infection

Epidemic Curve

when much of population is infected, immune from previous infection, or dead, the susceptible hosts decline and incidence rates of infection fall

Endemic

when prevalence and incidence of infectious disease become relatively constant over time

Malaria

Pregnant women and children especially
susceptible
• Infections in childhood can build better adult
immun

What social factors increase the spread of disease?

• Increased population density
• Increased urbanization
• Infrastructure decline
• Public health disinvestment
• Travel and trade
• Conflict and instability

What environmental factors effect the spread of disease?

• Deforestation

• Natural Disaster

• Climate Events

What biological factors impact the spread of disease?

• Drug restraint strains

• Biological weapons