Culture, Health and Illness
Editor: Cecil G Helman
I would imagine that most of my contemporaries in General Practice would be as clueless as to the nature of medical anthropology as I was before I picked up this book. But I think we can all be excused this because when the first edition of this famous text was published in 1984, most of us had completed our vocational training and a number of us were already principals in practice.
So, what is medical anthropology all about? Chapter one tells us that it concerns the experiences of ill health by different cultures and social groups and I was particularly interested to read the accounts of the beliefs of people in third world and underdeveloped countries. One of the most difficult aspects of proving good healthcare to refugees apart from the obvious language barriers, is the cultural beliefs about health and disease which in many cases differ wildly from our own. This book serves to show that more resources need to be ploughed into this area.
Throughout the book there are numerous case studies which "bring the text to life" and at the end of each chapter is a list of recommended reading. The book is heavily referenced and a list of these appears at the end of the book. Looking up topics in the book is straightforward because one may use either the subject or author index as well as the contents page. There are also a surprising number of websites devoted to the subject, the addresses of which appear on page 11.
Who should read this book? Well, general practitioners, psychiatrists, especially those with a big transcultural workload, nurses and medical students would all find it invaluable, appealing as it does to the uninitiated and the qualified professional alike.
| Publisher: | Arnold
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| 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH.
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| 4th Edition
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| ISBN: 0-7506-4786-8
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| Reviewer: | Dr Jeremy M Sager
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