Health-Seeking Behavior Paper

This book, as narrated by the author, Anne Fadiman, is about the true story of the life of an epileptic Hmong child named Lia Lee, and her refugee family’s interactions with the American health care system. This child endures agonizing grand mal seizures which ultimately and unfortunately, as a result, led her to become vegetative for the rest of her life. However, the central idea of this story is not entirely about Lia’s severe epilepsy, but how cultural boundaries had prompted to the obstruction of her treatment. Compliance had a major effect on Lia’s life between the doctors and her family, in which this argumentative battle is a way of implicitly revealing the differences in Western and Eastern medication, how the patient is perceived

There are several hindrances that immigrant’s population encounter when they migrated to a new country. For sure, obtaining a good quality of health care is one of the most difficulties that the immigrants will be faced in the new country due to several reasons such as language barrier, cultural beliefs and lack of education. These elements could absolutely complicate the medical system. One of the immigrant population who began to migrate gradually to the United States in the 18th century is the Hmong. They arrived in the United States with their traditional customs. Hmong culture, in general, is entirely different from the way of life in the United States. In particularly, Hmong’s health care has completely different systems of health in the America. Their health care depends extremely on their traditional beliefs which are seeing illness as animism matter. On the other hand, the Western medical system is rationalism that means the medical system relies primarily on biomedical beliefs. As I result, the contrast between Hmong traditional beliefs and Western biomedical beliefs built a lack of understanding of both sides

‘The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures’ is a book written in 1997 by the author Anne Fadiman. This book is based on a true story of the life of a Hmong child, Lia Lee who is epileptic. She suffers from numerous grand mal seizures and eventually she becomes vegetative for the remainder of her life. The intention of this book, however, is not Lia’s condition, but to highlight the problems that exist between the two cultures and the constant battles that Lia’s doctors and parents face due to the cultural barriers that exist between them. This is not just only a story of an ill child but about the more diverse battle between Eastern and Western medicine and how each view and treat patients in such different ways. In this essay the different health-seeking strategies used during Lia’s illness, the contrasting views between Lia’s parents and the American healthcare professionals and the theories of illness causation will be discussed.

Another social determinant of the aboriginal health is the poor compatibility linking the core values of their customary health beliefs and the modern health system. The westernized medical system is mostly interested in the detection and treatment of diseases and illnesses. On the other hand, the traditional aboriginal medication seeks to offer a meaningful justification for illnesses and reacts to the family, personal, and community issues related to the illness (Broome, 2002). This explains why

Though American Indians are enjoying an independent public health system with above $3 billion funds provided by Congress annually for delivering healthcare services to them, still figure and facts on health status of American Indians reveal that they are facing many difficulties and have to suffer from diverse type of illness and disease at a misappropriate level. Since long it was identified by medical communities that there are wide spread diseases diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, unintentional injuries, and other health conditions among American Indian and they are dying of these diseases at shocking rates (American Heart Association [AHA], 2010). Through this essay I want to discuss the healthcare status of American Indians in the perspective of their culture as how it impacted and lead to develop mistrust between amongst the medical community and American Indians.

Physicians, nurses, specialists, and other qualified medical personnel are provided to care for and treat many patients each day. Unfortunately, the number of patients exceeds the available medical personnel and appointment slots. Another problem for patients is the availability of service to the tribal area. Many Indians live in remote areas and do not possess the ability to seek medical attention because of lack of transportation resources. This is a major problem for many Native Americans, as many patients will not seek medical treatment and services until it becomes a medical emergency. For example, many obstetric patients will only receive two or three prenatal visits, or many patients will remain ill or only seek treatment after the illness has progressed to a more serious condition. Aronovitz, (2005).

This report will be investigating the various sociological perspectives on health as well as the models and definitions of health and ill health. These topics will assist in the understanding of how different people and different cultures react to ill health.

Many Alaskan Natives and Native Indians, also known as American Indians, share the same or similar views on health and medicine. Their definition of “traditional medicine” incorporates medicine and religion, various chants and rituals, and being one with Earth (Broome, B., Broome, R., 2007). “In the United States we are challenged to think about health care from our tradition as a cultural melting pot. Therefore, we must address the large range of individual health care needs from populations living the inner-city and suburbia to those in rural environments.” (O 'Brien, Anslow, Begay, Pereira, & Sullivan, 2002). It is important for healthcare workers to understand the views of American Indians in order to integrate their traditional medicine as well as western medicine. Examining areas such as common health conditions, treatments, and attitudes towards health, natural and alternative health will lead to a better capability of providing culturally competent care.

Western medicine in the Somali culture is used to keep individuals healthy and it is common to receive treatment in the form of antibiotics or tangible goods, for example vitamins or injections. Families will be discouraged if the leave the clinic without medication. As an occupational therapist it may be important to educate the families on why they do not prescribe medication and why intervention is OT intervention may be critical for their child’s development.

The purpose of this paper is to explain my definition of Intellectual, emotional, social and physical wellness. Also the purpose is to set certain goals for myself so I have a standard that I can attain to.

The specific health promotion topic in this paper is childhood obesity. Obesity is defined as a body mass index equivalent or greater than 95th percentile of a child's body weight. Obesity identifies biologically those children who will later in life develop comorbidities, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and muskoskeletal problems. This health promotion topic is chosen because of the recent epidemics and prevalence of childhood obesity. The prevalence of obesity in childhood is a big concern because of its adverse consequences in the short and long term. According to World Health Organization (WHO), the rise in childhood obesity for the past ten years has been very alarming. It was noted that Overweight and obesity now rank as the

In addition an article I found reiterated that folk medicine has been implemented by Mexicans for many generations and is intertwined in their country’s history. The areas in Mexico that are urbanized use modern health treatment methods to treat ill residents and in contrast locations that are categorized as rural are more prone to depending upon folk medicine to aid sick individuals. I perceive that global countries which are highly industrialized would not regularly implement this form of medical treatment and instead prefer to use contemporary health care to treat illnesses. Therefore people within the United States that may reside in a rural area and do not have instant accessibility to affordable health care options and believe in alternative care options could facilitate the usage of folk medicine to help varying forms of sickness. “Contrary to those beliefs, however, traditional medicine has proven to be quite effective in treating both chronic diseases and psychological problems, especially those associated with stress, which frequently stem from social alienation, anxiety or loss of self-esteem. In light of the benefits of traditional medicine, many Asian, African and South American countries have allowed the development of a dual system of medical care in which individuals can

An individual's attitude towards his health influences his capacity to maintain an optimum level of health, prevent illness or recover from a disease. Understanding patient's attitude towards his condition is the key to establishing an effective health-related program for health promotion, disease prevention and disease management. Hence, different health behavior theories have emerged. All of these are designed to help the patient and his family to facilitate learning, adjustment and behavior change to improve his quality of life. ( Butts & Rich, 2011)

Medical anthropology addresses the symbolic, narrative, and ethical dimension of healing, medicine and medical technology in many ways. One way anthropologists address these dimensions is by exploring how local and international communities view wellness, illness, disease and healing through different perspectives. Their goal is to examine how communities are able to function individually as well as to look for themes within the structure and systems of separate communities and cultures. Anthropologists spend a lot of time observing and discussing the theme of treatment within various communities.

Health behavior can be defined as action of individuals, groups and organizations, as well as the determinants, correlates and consequences of these actions which include social change, policy development and implementation, improved coping skills, and enhanced quality of life.