A Methodology for Cross-cultural Ethnomedical Research [and Comments and Reply]

Browner, Carole H.; Rubel, Arthur J.; Benoist, Jean; Cerroni‐Long, E. L.; Charzewska, Jadwiga; Colby, Benjamin N.; Garro, Linda C.; González, Nancie L.; Good, Byron J.; Hall, Roberta L.; Janzen, John M.; Kleinman, Arthur; Pollak-Eltz, Angelina

doi:10.1086/203688

Cited by 82 publications

(52 citation statements)

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“…Including "social uses" as another, separate use category, also makes little sense, as all medicinal uses are "social" by their very nature. Remarkably, Gruca et al (2014) suggested that "cultural diseases and disorders", which they also refer to as "culture-bound syndromes", and occasionally are referred to as "folk illnesses" (Browner et al, 1988) should be included as a separate medical category in the EBDCS. They suggest that this would "give a more accurate insight into traditional medicine".…”

Section: The "Economic Botany Data Collection Standard" (Ebdcs) and Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Classifying diseases and remedies in ethnomedicine and ethnopharmacology

Staub

Geck

Weckerle

et al. 2015

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

171

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ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Ethnopharmacology focuses on the understanding of local and indigenous use of medicines and therefore an emic approach is inevitable. Often, however, standard biomedical disease classifications are used to describe and analyse local diseases and remedies. Standard classifications might be a valid tool for cross-cultural comparisons and bioprospecting purposes but are not suitable to understand the local perception of disease and use of remedies. Different standard disease classification system exist but their suitability for cross-cultural comparisons of ethnomedical data has never been assessed. Depending on the research focus, (I) ethnomedical, (II) cross-cultural, and (III) bioprospecting, we provide suggestions for the use of specific classification systems. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyse three different standard biomedical classification systems (the International Classification of Diseases (ICD); the Economic Botany Data Collection Standard (EBDCS); and the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC)), and discuss their value for categorizing diseases of ethnomedical systems and their suitability for cross-cultural research in ethnopharmacology. Moreover, based on the biomedical uses of all approved plant derived biomedical drugs, we propose a biomedical therapy-based classification system as a guide for the discovery of drugs from ethnopharmacological sources. RESULTS: Widely used standards, such as the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) by the WHO and the Economic Botany Data Collection Standard (EBDCS) are either technically challenging due to a categorization system based on clinical examinations, which are usually not possible during field research (ICD) or lack clear biomedical criteria combining disorders and medical effects in an imprecise and confusing way (EBDCS). The International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC), also accepted by the WHO, has more in common with ethnomedical reality than the ICD or the EBDCS, as the categories are designed according to patient's perceptions and are less influenced by clinical medicine. Since diagnostic tools are not required, medical ethnobotanists and ethnopharmacologists can easily classify reported symptoms and complaints with the ICPC in one of the "chapters" based on 17 body systems, psychological and social problems. Also the biomedical uses of plant-derived drugs are classifiable into 17 broad organ-and therapy-based use-categories but can easily be divided into more specific subcategories. CONCLUSIONS: Depending on the research focus (I-III) we propose the following classification systems. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting galley proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could aff...

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Section: The "Economic Botany Data Collection Standard" (Ebdcs) and Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Classifying diseases and remedies in ethnomedicine and ethnopharmacology

Staub

Geck

Weckerle

et al. 2015

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

171

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“…The relationships of trust built during this time and the annual visits to these communities that followed (1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003) were the basis for informant selection. The "snowball technique" in ethnography was then used to contact friends and family members of each collaborator (Browner, De Montellano, & Rubel, 1988).…”

Section: Site Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interview questions were developed using previous ethnographic reports on Q'eqchi culture (Parra Novo, 1997;Wilson, 1994;Wilson, 1995), field studies related to women's health (Berlin & Berlin, 1996;Browner, 1985;Castaneda, Garcia, & Langer, 1996;Lock, 1998) and bibliographic materials on ethnobotanical interview techniques (Alexiades, 1996;Browner, De Montellano, & Rubel, 1988;). Interview questions were formulated to explore cultural attitudes of women's health and the use of local plants to treat common women's health complaints related to menstruation and menopause.…”

Section: Participant Observation and Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symptoms, attitudes and treatment choices surrounding menopause among the Q’eqchi Maya of Livingston, Guatemala

Michel

Mahady

Veliz

et al. 2006

Social Science & Medicine

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The present study explored symptoms, attitudes and treatments surrounding women's health and menopause among the Q'eqchi Maya of the eastern tropical lowlands of Guatemala. Data were obtained through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, focus groups and plant walks with 50 Q'eqchi community members from the state of Izabal, Municipality of Livingston, including 5 midwives, 5 traditional male healers and 8 postmenopausal women. Results indicate that the Q'eqchi Maya of Livingston possess their own cultural perceptions of women's health which affect attitudes, symptoms and treatment choices during the menopausal transition. Since discussions of menstruation and menopause are considered cultural taboos among the Q'eqchi, many women mentioned experiencing excessive preoccupation when unanticipated and unfamiliar symptoms occurred. Furthermore, many women suffered from additional hardship when their spouse misinterpreted menopausal symptoms (vaginal dryness, sexual disinterest) as infidelity. Seven of the eight postmenopausal women interviewed indicated experiencing one or more symptoms during the menopausal transition, including headaches, anxiety, muscular pain, depression, and hot flashes. These results differ from the lack of symptomatology reported in previous studies in Mexico, but are in line with the result of menopausal research conducted among other Maya groups from the highlands of Guatemala. Although the Q'eqchi did not use a specific term for "hot flash", three Q'eqchi women used the expression "baja presion" or a "lowering of blood pressure" to explain symptoms of profuse sweating followed by chills, heart palpitations, and emotional instability. The Q'eqchi Maya mentioned a number of herbal remedies to treat menopausal symptoms. Further research on these botanical treatments is needed in order to ascertain their safety and efficacy for continued use.

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“…This biocultural model of health focuses on the integration of the ethnomedical and ecological approaches by investigating the complex association between disease agents, biological organisms, cultural beliefs and behaviors, and the ecosystems in which they are located (Moore et al 1980). Towards this biocultural synthesis, Browner et al (1988) proposed an analytic framework that combined the emic perspective of the ethnomedical approach with the etic measures that bioscience and the ecological model can generate. The goal of this approach is to develop a methodology that will produce a set of criteria or 'external referents' that will allow for the comparison between medical systems.…”

Section: Interpretive and Ecological Approaches In Medical Anthropologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although it is widely held that the cognitive structures underlying illness behavior and decision making are implicit in utterances that can be systematically elicited from informants (Frake 1961;Metzger and Williams 1963), much contemporary medical anthropological research has focused on symbolic and epistemological dimensions, rather than the biological and physiological realities to which these utterances refer (Browner et al 1988). Research on the ethnoepidemiology of the Highland Maya of Chiapas, Mexico by Berlin and Berlin (1996) has identified an ethnomedical syndrome, Cha'lam tsots.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Explanatory Model for the Maya Ethnomedical Syndrome Cha'lam tsots

Luber¹

1999

JEA

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A Methodology for Cross-cultural Ethnomedical Research [and Comments and Reply]

Cited by 82 publications

References 0 publications

Classifying diseases and remedies in ethnomedicine and ethnopharmacology

Classifying diseases and remedies in ethnomedicine and ethnopharmacology

Symptoms, attitudes and treatment choices surrounding menopause among the Q’eqchi Maya of Livingston, Guatemala

An Explanatory Model for the Maya Ethnomedical Syndrome Cha'lam tsots

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