Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:55:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Elisa Gonzalez Manso.pdf: 1100752 bytes, checksum: a79f3c4334cb3dc3edbfbcb83487718d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-05 / This research aims to understand the explanatory model and the therapeutic itinerary of a group of patients affected by chronic diseases who are assisted by disease management programs carried out by operators of health plans and identify strategies of self-care that relate with the explanatory model. The thesis that moves this study is that the route that the patient uses for its treatment has deep roots in his own culture, being much larger than the model used by health professionals, also generated by the culture, but restricted by the biomedical vision. The meanings of terms such as health, cure, treatment, disability, dependence and others are not always equal in both models. If the meaning is too different, adherence to the treatment will be impaired, but the patient may still have obtained relief from their suffering. The methodology applied is qualitative, gathered through interviews with people with confirmed previous medical diagnosis of chronic disease who were already undergoing treatment, accompanied by chronic diseases management programs, which, according to the hegemonic healthy model, should know the diseases that affect them with a sufficient degree of information that would allow their full compliance. Because these are people linked to health plans, with a higher socioeconomic strata, they would fit the criteria of information, income, education and access to health care that would turn them into ideal patients and adherent to therapy. Reasons for non-adherence to treatment among these participants are what motivated this research and generated the hypothesis that the therapeutic itinerary of these patients, generated and engraved in their culture, originates from an explanatory model of the illness process much wider than the hegemonic model. So these diseased would present strategies of self-care, as part of this layman model, which allows them to carry on and manage their treatment both within and without the current prevailing model, strategies those that can be seen by health professionals as noncompliance. We believe that this study achieved its objectives, supporting the initial hypothesis of the research, showing that even in a theoretically disciplined group within criteria taken as ideal for joining the biomedical model of illness and treatment, people are immersed in their culture and find loopholes for the exercise of self-care. The work also showed that the crisis of the biomedical model, in this case, stems from the microphysics power relations and from the structural conditions of the health system and the people in the group are able to identify some of these flaws. We hope this research will contribute to this relevant nowadays debate as well as collaborate in the reflections on medicine and health education, broadening the discussion to incorporate the experiences and narratives of this group of patients / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo perceber o modelo explicativo e o itinerário terapêutico de um grupo de doentes acometidos por afecções crônicas assistidos por programas de gerenciamento de doenças realizados por operadoras de planos de saúde e identificar estratégias de cuidar de si que se inter-relacionam com seu modelo explicativo. A tese que move este estudo é de que o itinerário que o doente utiliza para seu tratamento tem profundas raízes na cultura, sendo muito mais amplo do que o modelo dos profissionais de saúde, por sua vez também gerado na cultura, porém restringido pela visão da biomedicina. Os significados de termos como saúde, cura, tratamento, incapacidade, dependência, entre outros, nem sempre são correspondentes em ambos os modelos. Caso o significado seja muito diferente, a adesão ao tratamento ficará prejudicada, mas o doente pode ter obtido alívio para seu sofrimento. A metodologia empregada é qualitativa, realizada mediante entrevistas com pessoas com diagnóstico médico prévio confirmado de doença crônica e que já se encontravam em tratamento, acompanhadas por programas de gerenciamento de doenças crônicas, as quais, segundo o modelo de atenção à saúde hegemônico, deveriam conhecer as doenças que os acometem com um grau de informação suficiente que permitisse sua adesão plena ao tratamento. Por se tratarem de pessoas vinculadas a planos de saúde, portanto de estratos socioeconômicos mais elevados, preencheriam os quesitos de informação, renda, educação e acessibilidade ao sistema de saúde que os transformaria em pacientes ideais e aderentes à terapêutica. O porquê da não adesão ao tratamento entre estes participantes é que despertou esta pesquisa e gerou a hipótese de que o itinerário terapêutico destes enfermos, gerado e inscrito na cultura, origina-se de um modelo explicativo do processo de adoecer mais amplo do que o modelo hegemônico. Estes adoecidos apresentariam assim estratégias de cuidar de si próprios, como parte deste modelo dito leigo, que faz com que convivam e gerenciem seu tratamento tanto dentro quanto à revelia do modelo predominante, estratégias estas que podem ser vistas pelos profissionais de saúde como não adesão. Acreditamos que esta pesquisa atingiu seus objetivos, corroborando a hipótese inicial do trabalho, demonstrando que, mesmo em um grupo teoricamente disciplinado dentro de critérios tidos como ideais para a adesão ao modelo biomédico de adoecimento e tratamento, as pessoas estão imersas na cultura e encontram brechas para o exercício do cuidar de si. O trabalho mostrou ainda que a crise do modelo biomédico, neste caso, advém tanto das relações microfísicas de poder quanto das condições estruturais do sistema de saúde e que as pessoas do grupo conseguem identificar algumas destas falhas. Esperamos que esta pesquisa possa contribuir para este debate tão atual, além de colaborar nas reflexões sobre a medicina e sobre o ensino na saúde, ampliando a discussão ao incorporar as experiências e narrativas deste grupo de enfermos

[Truncated abstract] In Australia, asthma is a common chronic illness, which often requires complex treatment regimens. This study used an anthropological perspective to explore the experience of people living with asthma, with the specific aim of contributing to the health care programs offered to people living with asthma. The study was conducted in an Australian city (Perth, Western Australia). The foci of the study were Australian lay people, from the general community, living with asthma, and a small number of non- English speaking Vietnamese-Australian migrants. Some spouses of the Australians and biomedical practitioners were also included. Questionnaires, and particularly indepth interviews, were used to explore the explanatory models of asthma for doctors and lay people with the condition. The explanatory models of the doctors focused primarily on assessing and treating the physiological dimension of asthma, and educating patients. The explanatory models for lay people with asthma reflected their everyday reality: in addition to its impact on their physical health, asthma affected their daily life, social roles and participation, and their personal identity. Placing the experience of asthma in this wider perspective showed that the Australians used practical reasoning to make a trade-off between using medication, such that they felt safe from `attacks? and could `do all they wanted to do?, and minimising their `dependence? on potentially harmful medications. Responding to acute episodes involved a risk assessment in which people weighing the health risk of waiting against the social risk of seeking help unnecessarily. For the Vietnamese- Australians, caring for asthma was strongly shaped by their social position as non- English speaking migrants. They lacked access to information about asthma and to specialist care. They had sufficient medication, but were ill-informed about how to use their medicines effectively and safely: in general, the Vietnamese people were overmedicated but under-serviced in the care of their asthma. Beyond explanatory models, the Australian participants (lay people and doctors) shared a cultural model of asthma as a chronic illness. This Australian cultural model shaped the experience and care of asthma. It included concepts such as framing the past as an adjustment process, and the present as `living normally? with asthma. Taking care of asthma was expressed as `taking control? of asthma, so a person could minimise the illness and still be healthy. The Vietnamese-Australians did not share this cultural model of asthma as a chronic illness, as reflected in their expression of the hardship asthma created in limiting their ability to work hard for their family, and how they expected a cure for their condition from biomedicine. The Australians also shared a cultural model of health that was derived, in part, from the health promotion messages that are targeted at lay people. These promotional messages were the basis of a morality in health: people shared an implicit understanding that a person deserved health, and assistance when ill, when he/she displayed the required self-discipline in performing health behaviours.

This research was stimulated by an indication that members of the Africa Gospel Church do not utilise professional health care services optimally, probably due to religious reasons. This may also be the result of registered nurses’ inability to render culture congruent care. To render culture congruent care, nurses require knowledge of the belief system and the health seeking behaviours of the church members. The qualitative research investigated the religious beliefs and health seeking behaviours of members of the Africa Gospel Church in Francistown, Botswana. An exploratory ethnonursing research method was applied. Semi-structured interviews were held with two purposively selected samples. Qualitative data analysis was done using computer software to reduce data and interpret the research results. The study indicated that members utilise the Church structure for health care purposes and seek health care mainly from priests and prophets. / Advanced Nursing Sciences / M.A. (Nursing Science)

This research was stimulated by an indication that members of the Africa Gospel Church do not utilise professional health care services optimally, probably due to religious reasons. This may also be the result of registered nurses’ inability to render culture congruent care. To render culture congruent care, nurses require knowledge of the belief system and the health seeking behaviours of the church members. The qualitative research investigated the religious beliefs and health seeking behaviours of members of the Africa Gospel Church in Francistown, Botswana. An exploratory ethnonursing research method was applied. Semi-structured interviews were held with two purposively selected samples. Qualitative data analysis was done using computer software to reduce data and interpret the research results. The study indicated that members utilise the Church structure for health care purposes and seek health care mainly from priests and prophets. / Advanced Nursing Sciences / M.A. (Nursing Science)