Cultural Dimensions of Health Self-Care

Abstract (English)

During their initiation ceremonies into adulthood, the Eastern Tukano indigenous people in the Colombian Amazon teach their youth that each person must be responsible for taking care of their body and health.[1] This philosophy has its equivalent in the Western concept of health self-care.[2] There is no single definition of health self-care. Each attempt emphasizes particular aspects within a broad set of knowledge, practices, and ways of understanding health.[3] The cultural dimension plays a very important role in these differences. A traditional elderly woman in rural China may have a very different understanding of taking care of the body compared to a male patient with diabetes in a large city. In both cases, however, the common component is the active participation of individuals, families, or communities with or without the support of a health worker. Self-care can include healthy behaviours, preventive actions, early management of diseases, and care of chronic diseases and disabilities, among many other dimensions.[4] It is the first step in health care and is more frequent where health services do not offer adequate solutions. The concepts of health and disease change from one cultural context to another, so the very goal of self-care can vary radically between different population groups. Similarly, the knowledge and practices employed in health care can also vary. In some groups, self-care reflects biomedical recommendations while other groups might apply concepts, resources, and techniques transmitted through generations as part of traditional health systems. This panorama is further complicated by the emergence of a variety of therapeutic proposals, usually referred to as complementary, and the popularization of media recommendations. The safety and benefits of self-care are the subject of ongoing debate. There are few studies evaluating the impacts of self-care practices. From an epidemiological point of view, a challenge is to define what self-care means. This makes it difficult to measure its association with specific health outcomes. The panel will include studies that describe the cultural dimension of self-care through concrete cases. We are interested in exploring reports on the practical implications of self-care on people's health.