question_answer

How concept of health varies at various cultural levels?

Answer:

Ans.     At the individual level, there are various factors which are associated with physical well- being or illness in different cultures.

1.         Cognition:

(i) The variations in seeking help of doctors whether doctor is required or not is due to differences in beliefs people have relating to diseases.

(ii) The level of awareness of or information about disease, and beliefs about how it is caused also differ in cultures, e.g., small-pox is anger of MATA which needs not to be treated.

2.         Behaviour:

(i) Evidence shows that behaviour we engage in and our life-style greatly influence health but different cultures perceive it differently, e.g., drug abuse, smoking and tobacco use, lack of physical exercise, etc. are associated with incidence of coronary heart disease, cancer, etc. but in villages even children are allowed to smoke.

(ii) A new discipline called behavioural medicine has emerged which seeks to alleviate stress through modification in behaviour, outlook and life-style. It is basically behavioural modification to attain good health.

3.         Social and Cultural Factors:

(i) The relationship between hostility, anger and CHD is not found to be the same in all cultures, e.g., India and China.

(ii) Social and cultural norms associated with roles and gender etc. greatly influence our health behaviour, e.g., medical treatment for female is delayed because they are less valued, belief that they are hardy or the shame associated with the disease.