Cultural Health Beliefs and Practices Among Hispanic Parents

Parents’ beliefs about and approaches to their child’s health vary with culture and change within cultures over time. To provide an updated understanding of folk and traditional medicine (FTM) among Hispanic parents in the United States, we surveyed 200 caregivers identifying their child as Hispanic in a pediatric primary care clinic about their cultural health beliefs and practices. Overall, 84% of participants believed in ≥1 folk illness, with foreign-born participants more likely than US-born to endorse folk illness beliefs. Eighty-three percent had used cultural remedies for their children. Of those, although just 15% had discussed such practices with their child’s provider, 86% would feel comfortable doing so. No demographic factors predicted use of cultural remedies/healers or comfort talking to providers. Beliefs and practices related to FTM are prevalent among Hispanic parents and cannot be predicted using demographics; providers should routinely ask all families about FTM.

A qualitative study on the experiences of southern European immigrant parents navigating the Norwegian healthcare system

Background Patients’ experiences with health providers and their diagnostic and treatment expectations are shaped by cultural health beliefs and previous experiences with healthcare services in home country. This study explores how Southern European immigrant parents navigate the Norwegian healthcare system, through its focus on how this group manage their expectations on diagnosis and treatment practices when these are unmet. Methods The study had a qualitative research design. Fourteen in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions with 20 Southern European immigrant parents were conducted in 2017 in three Norwegian municipalities. With the help of NVivo software, data were transcribed verbatim and coded. Following a thematic analysis approach to identify patterns in immigrants’ experiences with the Norwegian healthcare services, the codes were organized into two themes. Results The first theme includes immigrants’ expectations on diagnostic tests and medical treatment. Southern European immigrants expected more diagnostic tests and pharmacological treatment than what was deemed necessary by Norwegian health providers. Experiences with unmet expectations influenced how immigrants addressed their and their children’s healthcare needs. The second theme comprises immigrants’ experiences of seeking healthcare in Norway (attending medical consultations in the private sector, seeking immigrant healthcare providers, and navigating the healthcare through their Norwegian social networks). This category includes also the alternative solutions immigrants undertook when they were dissatisfied with the diagnosis and treatment practices they were offered in Norway (self-medication and seeking healthcare in home countries). Conclusions Cultural health beliefs and previous experiences with healthcare services from home country shaped immigrants’ expectations on diagnosis and treatment practices. This had great implications for their navigation through the healthcare system and interactions with health providers in the host country. The study suggests that successful inclusion of immigrants into the Norwegian healthcare system requires an acknowledgement of the cultural factors that influence access and use of healthcare services. Exploring immigrants’ perspectives and experiences offers important information to understand the challenges of cross-cultural healthcare and to improve communication and equitable access.

The Health Ritual of “Pag-aanito” among the Aetas of Nabuclod, Pampanga, Philippines

A defining characteristic of an indigenous group is that it has preserved its unique traditional ways of living, belief system or pertinent rituals amidst the presence of modernity. One of the indigenous group residing in the Philippines are the Aeta people, found scattered in the archipelago. One of the unique cultural health beliefs of this indigenous group revolves around the spirit called "anito" and the ritual for appeasing this spirit termed as "pag-aanito." This paper explores the contemporary understanding of a select group of Aeta from Pampanga, Philippines on these unique cultural health beliefs and how their understanding and appreciation of their traditional customs affects their perception of the world, themselves, and their health.

The Health Ritual of “Pag-aanito” among the Aetas of Nabuclod, Pampanga, Philippines

A defining characteristic of an indigenous group is that it has preserved its unique traditional ways of living, belief system or pertinent rituals amidst the presence of modernity. One of the indigenous group residing in the Philippines are the Aeta people, found scattered in the archipelago. One of the unique cultural health beliefs of this indigenous group revolves around the spirit called "anito" and the ritual for appeasing this spirit termed as "pag-aanito." This paper explores the contemporary understanding of a select group of Aeta from Pampanga, Philippines on these unique cultural health beliefs and how their understanding and appreciation of their traditional customs affects their perception of the world, themselves, and their health.

Cultural Construction of Dementia Progression, Behavioral Aberrations, and Situational Ethnicity: An Orthogonal Approach

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, induce caregivers already struggling to cope with the behavioral aberrations of dementia to constantly update their cultural construction of the disease because the outward symptoms used to interpret it are in constant flux. For ethnic minority caregivers, particularly, coping is a process of tracking a moving set of symptoms, making cultural sense of them across time, and negotiating a medical environment that can be hostile to them because of their “nonstandard” cultural health beliefs. In the midst of a constantly changing disease, achieving optimal communications with the medical establishment causes the ethnic minority caregivers to change their behaviors to better fit the expectations of the clinic, then retreat to their own cultural comfort zone only to continue oscillating between cultures for the duration of their caregiving responsibilities. Ethnic minority dementia caregiving is conceptualized here from an orthogonal perspective in which the moving elements of the ethnic minority dementia experience intersect in numerous ways and produce many coping strategy permutations corresponding to the evolving disease and its cultural constructs.