Diagnosis and cure: The resort to traditional and modern medical practitioners in the North Solomons, Papua New Guinea

Hamnett, Michael P.; Connell, John

doi:10.1016/0160-7987(81)90023-5

Cited by 14 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Sik nating refers to other illnesses where there is no perceived social or spiritual cause and which are readily treated by traditional herbal or modern medicines. This distinction is wide-spread in Melanesia though there appears to be considerable variation between societies in the proportions of illnesses designated as each type and little uniformity in how specific illnesses are defined in terms of each category (Schwartz, 1969;Lewis, 1975;Hamnett and Connell, 1981;Frankel, 1986). Some researchers have reported that whilst modern medicine is believed to be able to alleviate the symptoms of sik bilong ples, indigenous remedies are thought to be required for the elimination of underlying causes (Schwartz, 1969, 208;Hamnett and Connell, 1981, 497;Frankel, 1986, 181;Lipuma, 1989, 301;Roscoe, 1989, 211).…”

Section: Social Context Of Illnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sik Bilong Ples: an Exploration of Meanings of Illness and Well‐Being Amongst the Wosera Abelam of Papua New Guinea

Koczberski

Curry

1999

Australian Geographical Studies

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This paper examines indigenous concepts of health and well‐being amongst the Wosera Abelam, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. Indigenous conceptual frameworks for understanding human well‐being are remarkably resilient despite the use of western medical services and nutritional advice from health clinics. Their resilience is probably attributable to their embeddedness within a wider worldview that emphasises the social context of health and well‐being and thus makes them resistant to change. Whilst the Wosera Abelam are open and receptive to modern health services, their response to these services remains considerably influenced by indigenous concepts of health and illness.

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Section: Social Context Of Illnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sik Bilong Ples: an Exploration of Meanings of Illness and Well‐Being Amongst the Wosera Abelam of Papua New Guinea

Koczberski

Curry

1999

Australian Geographical Studies

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“…However, one might argue that modern Western medicine has often been a symbol of the “good” of modernization, even in the imperialistic/colonial era (Berliner, 1985). Early on, Hamnett and Connell (1981) suggested that this results in complex “layers” of beliefs in all societies.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Cultural Turn in Sociology: Can It Help Us Resolve an Age-Old Problem in Understanding Decision Making for Health Care?

Pescosolido¹,

Ólafsdóttir

2010

Sociological Forum

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Culture has long shaped individuals’ response to problems. A classic puzzle in the sociology of health and illness is discrepancy between theory and research regarding cultural beliefs and medical care service use. “Utilization research,” examining individuals’ responses to the onset of health problems, has not consistently affected culture on the uptake of formal treatment. While ethnographic research often describes how culture shapes illness behaviors, survey-based studies rarely find significant effects of predispositions once “need” is controlled. In quantitative studies, individuals report supportive treatment beliefs or predispositions to use services but low utilization levels, reinforcing claims about lack of utility of cultural ideologies in health-care decision making. We ask whether innovations in the sociology of culture and cognition provide the theoretical scaffolding to conceptualize and measure culture in health service utilization. Examining data from the General Social Survey, we focus on how approaches to culture might explain the paradox of high cultural predispositions and low actual use. Children with mental health problems provide a comparison between suggestions and endorsements. Suggestions, sources of care offered by individuals in response to a case description without any other social cues, align with new cultural approaches, and are measured by responses to open-ended questions about what should be done for the child described meeting clinical criteria f or ADHD, major depression, asthma, or “daily troubles”). Endorsements, requiring less cognitive work and cultural resistance, align with traditional conceptualizations of culture, and are measured by closed-ended questions that ask respondents to agree or disagree with seeking help from different treatment options placed later in the survey. We find that suggestions reveal cultural predispositions to use services corresponding closely to reported utilization levels; endorsements reveal high, unrealistic cultural predispositions to use services. Further, suggestions are associated with sociodemographics that proxy culture (e.g., race), while endorsements are associated only with perceived need.

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“…Behavioural change has thus been more rapid than cognitive change; disease aetiology and process are still conceived in traditional cognitive models yet participation in the modern health system is commonplace. What has emerged in many places is a dual hierarchy of alternatives, perceived as complementary (other than by a number of practitioners in each system), which has enabled much greater diversity and flexibility in response to illness (Schwartz, 1969, Hamnett andConnell, 1981). Traditional systems have tended to give way to modern systems, since traditional medicine may not be consistent and systematic, but empirical and selective, and modern health care systems, through drugs such as penicillin, often in association with Christian missions, provide new and effective therapies and explanatory systems.…”

Section: Health Systems Old and Newmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health in Papua New Guinea: a Decline in Development

Connell

1997

Australian Geographical Studies

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Papua New Guinea has experienced the start of an epidemiological transition in health status from infectious towards non-communicable diseases, though the latter were absent until the post-war years. This transition is particularly marked in urban and coastal areas, where life expectancies are higher and mortality rates lower. Tropical diseases remain significant, malaria has worsened and new mobility has increased the severity of epidemics of influenza and measles. Indigenous medical systems have increasingly given way to modern medical systems, though disease aetiology is usually perceived through traditional cognitive models. Modern medical systems were mainly developed in the 1960s and 1970s, on either side of independence, but despite an official focus on primary health care, have had much reduced effectiveness since the 1980s. Rural health centres have been poorly maintained and serviced, and health workers have limited skills and access to resources. The health budget has been increasingly concentrated in urban areas, though the bulk of the population and of the health problems are in rural areas, resulting in a worsening 'inverse care law', that is particularly significant for women. Overall health status has declined in the past decade despite overseas advocacy of new policies and the prospects for improvement are poor.

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Diagnosis and cure: The resort to traditional and modern medical practitioners in the North Solomons, Papua New Guinea

Cited by 14 publications

References 13 publications

Sik Bilong Ples: an Exploration of Meanings of Illness and Well‐Being Amongst the Wosera Abelam of Papua New Guinea

Sik Bilong Ples: an Exploration of Meanings of Illness and Well‐Being Amongst the Wosera Abelam of Papua New Guinea

The Cultural Turn in Sociology: Can It Help Us Resolve an Age-Old Problem in Understanding Decision Making for Health Care?

Health in Papua New Guinea: a Decline in Development

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