NURS1003 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Health Promotion, Dsm-5, Medical Anthropology
Topic 2 – Culture and Health
Anthropology
Anthropology: “The holistic study of humankind” – discipline of the study of the humankind
“study of human societies and cultures and their development”
Medical Anthropology: “How people in different cultures and social groups explain the
causes of ill health, the types of treatments they believe in, and to whom they turn if they
get ill”
Is a bio‐cultural discipline because it draws from both the social and natural sciences
Anthropological methodology is useful for this unit approach:
Depth, detail and context of case studies – works with different cultural groups
Reflective thinking – examples, comparing what they’re seeing and understanding to
their own cultural understandings
Multi‐disciplinary – work in humanitarian aid with doctors, helping people in
humanitarian crisis
Culture
“A system of shared ideas, attitudes, and practices that defines the social system of its
members”
“an inherited ‘lens’ through which the individual perceives and understands the world”
“learned, accumulated experience”
interacts with biology and environment – sociologically determined
changes over time
affected by and affects structural factors; age, gender and socio‐economic status
(SES)
understood and expressed differently by members of a cultural group
no objective ways to understand the world
our views are shaped by our cultural background and the social context
Culture and World View
Culture lead to patterns of behaviour:
Values: “Guiding principles for behaviour“
Attitudes: “Ways of viewing the world that arise out of experience and access to
information:
Beliefs: “Systems of understanding (beliefs systems) which may be religious and otherwise,
which provide guiding principles that help people make sense of the world”
Social norms: “Rules or standards that guide or constrain individual’s actions or behaviour”
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Social construction: “Refers to the socially created characteristics of human life based on the
idea that people actively construct reality, meaning it is neither ‘natural’ nor inevitable.
Therefore, notions of normality/abnormality, right/wrong, and health/illness are subjective
human creations that should not be taken for granted
Culture – material and ideology
Non‐material aspects – realm of ideas and include our shared belief systems and
values ‐ our explanations of health come into this category
oideas
obeliefs
ovalues
onorms
Material aspects – things which are observable e.g. goods that people create such
as art, religious icon, stethoscopes
Culture and ‘Race’
‘Race’ is “the concept that human beings can be divided into biologically distinct
sub‐groups, identified through phenotype, or outward appearance”
Is a social construct used to categorise people
Often implies assumed (and unproven) intellectual superiority or inferiority
Concept developed at start of 15th century
‘scientific’ justification for slavery, domination and colonisation – self‐justification
that one ‘race’ is more superior than the other
Ethnicity is used in this unit instead of ‘race’:
A shared background
A sense of belonging
Self‐identity
A person is recognised by others as being a member
Racism, in its individual and institutional forms, is a social determinant of health
Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism: “viewing others from one’s own cultural perspective, with an
implied sense of cultural superiority based on an inability to understand or accept
the practices and beliefs of other cultures”
Unfortunately, our ‘inherited lens’ of culture can negatively impact how we view
other people and their cultural practices.
Ethnocentrism and health:
Causes health professionals to view a person’s culture as the cause of ill health
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Draws on stereotypes and in the process reinforces the position of the health
professional as the ‘expert’
This approach sidelines structural issues that may be important to consider
Culture impacts 3 aspects of Health
1. The social production and distribution of health and illness
Example:
social norms – culturally created; gender and body image – accepted normal
body image for men/women
odieting & exercising in excess health problems (bulimia, anorexia
nervosa)
osteroids enhance body imagery
osocial production, social patterns of health and illness emerging
Culture and epidemiology
Gender roles, family structure, socio‐ economic status, sexual behaviour,
contraceptive patterns, population policies, pregnancy and childbirth, diet, body
image alterations, dress, personal hygiene, housing, transportation sanitation
arrangements, occupations, religion, leisure pursuits, domestic animals and birds,
self and lay treatment, use of chemical comforters
tobacco smoking
oIn some countries ‐ normal and public
oAustralia – shaming people, health promotion, bans on advertising
less people take up smoking, less lung disease
2. The social construction of health and illness
Cultural‐bound syndromes: “Locally defined patterns of illness that occur only in
specific communities and are identified by a set of symptoms that derives from the
culture of the society that experiences them”
Occur only in specific communities
Are shaped by local context (language, culture, shared environment)
‘Western’ examples
DSM V definitions – particularly for mental health issues – e.g. PTSD
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Anthropology: the holistic study of humankind discipline of the study of the humankind. Study of human societies and cultures and their development . Medical anthropology: how people in different cultures and social groups explain the causes of ill health, the types of treatments they believe in, and to whom they turn if they get ill . Is a bio cultural discipline because it draws from both the social and natural sciences. Anthropological methodology is useful for this unit approach: Depth, detail and context of case studies works with different cultural groups. Reflective thinking examples, comparing what they"re seeing and understanding to their own cultural understandings. Multi disciplinary work in humanitarian aid with doctors, helping people in humanitarian crisis. A system of shared ideas, attitudes, and practices that defines the social system of its members . An inherited lens" through which the individual perceives and understands the world .
