ETHNOMEDICAL APPROACH:
This approach in medical anthropology specifically examines culture and medicine in numerous ways. The ethnomedical approach is important when diagnosing and treating patients because the patient's lifestyle, political views, and beliefs must be taken into account. Not only does this approach focus on how to diagnose and treat individuals, but it also includes how people with illnesses go about seeking for medical help. For example, two completely opposite ways a patient could seek help regarding their illness could be through western medical establishments (hospitals, clinics, specialists), or through a type of spiritual healer. In the case of Chronic Kidney Disease, some patients may immediately chose dialysis as the primary treatment, but others may chose alternate treatments such as herbs.
Therefore, every society has its own medical system or systems specialized to treat individuals of a certain culture. Culture would be defined as a group of individuals who share particular lifestyles and beliefs, and generally the same living environment. Thus, a culture generally has a particular protocol for diagnosing and treating illnesses that the culture is usually familiar with. In the case of CKD in western medicine, there is a specific set of steps patients and doctors follow when he or she suspects kidney failure within the body. This diagram is located at the top of the page on the right [1]. However, not all cultures revert to this protocol designed by western society, and in fact some cultures may already have a treatment protocol that acts differently then the one designed above. This is why medical anthropologists are interested in the ethnomedical approach; the steps in treating an individual with an illness must comply with the customs of the culture in which that individual belongs.
Kleinman's three sectors of healthcare (popular, folk, and professional) can be applied to CKD. The popular sector (which emphasizes how people and the surrounding environment help recognize early signs of an illness) for CKD is much like a lot of diseases since the early signs and symptoms are similar. For example, some of the early symptoms of CDK include appetite loss, fatigue, and headaches [2]. A patient who recognizes these symptoms will more often than not attempt over-the-counter medications to treat these symptoms. The folk sector would generally play a minor role in CKD, mostly because people who recognize they have CDK understand the physiological problem involved with the kidney and depend on a medical doctor. Therefore, most patients who have CKD would primarily resort to the professional sector next. This is when individuals seek help from medical professionals. In western medicine, doctors would most likely immediately start a patient on dialysis when kidney damage is suspected and primary treatments would include controlling blood pressure and suggesting lifestyle changes including not smoking, healthy diet, and moderate exercising [2]. In cultures who refuse this type of treatment, there are other alternatives including herbal formulas which are pictured above on the left [3]. Medical anthropologists would certainly be interested in how other cultures that refuse biomedicine would treat CKD. However, with the right mind, the body and the mind could actually help the healing process of CKD. The article by Lock and Scheper-Hughes called "The Mindful Body: The Prolegomenon to Future Work in Medical Anthropology" mentions three 'bodies'. The first body refers to the individual body, almost like a first-person sense of what the illness is like, and how all parts of the body are working together. An anthropologist might want to examine how the individual is dealing with CKD mentally while dealing with the pain or agony with the disease physically. The second body, or the social body, deals with how the body is being represented as a symbol for example. If the kidney is being 'clogged' or over-filling because of insulin resistance or high blood pressure, the patient and the medical team will want to solve this issue to get the 'filter' unclogged from these causes. The third body, or the body politic, focuses on the regulation, control, and surveillance of the bodies. In the case of kidney disease, anthropologists would recommend better healthy lifestyles including eating a healthy diet, not smoking, and exercising to decrease the risk of gaining the disease. One way to target this would be by calling out unhealthy fast food chains and other companies that promote unhealthy life choices.
References
[1] "A practical approach to the treatment of depression in patients with chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease". Kidney International. Viewed on August 13, 204. http://www.nature.com/ki/journal/v81/n3/fig_tab/ki2011358f1.html
[2] National Kidney Center. Viewed on August 13, 2014.http://www.nationalkidneycenter.org/chronic-kidney-disease/
[3] "Stages of Chronic Kidney Disease, What is the End Stage, Kidney Failture Herbal Remedies". Viewed on August 13, 2014. http://avoidingdialysis.wordpress.com/
Therefore, every society has its own medical system or systems specialized to treat individuals of a certain culture. Culture would be defined as a group of individuals who share particular lifestyles and beliefs, and generally the same living environment. Thus, a culture generally has a particular protocol for diagnosing and treating illnesses that the culture is usually familiar with. In the case of CKD in western medicine, there is a specific set of steps patients and doctors follow when he or she suspects kidney failure within the body. This diagram is located at the top of the page on the right [1]. However, not all cultures revert to this protocol designed by western society, and in fact some cultures may already have a treatment protocol that acts differently then the one designed above. This is why medical anthropologists are interested in the ethnomedical approach; the steps in treating an individual with an illness must comply with the customs of the culture in which that individual belongs.
Kleinman's three sectors of healthcare (popular, folk, and professional) can be applied to CKD. The popular sector (which emphasizes how people and the surrounding environment help recognize early signs of an illness) for CKD is much like a lot of diseases since the early signs and symptoms are similar. For example, some of the early symptoms of CDK include appetite loss, fatigue, and headaches [2]. A patient who recognizes these symptoms will more often than not attempt over-the-counter medications to treat these symptoms. The folk sector would generally play a minor role in CKD, mostly because people who recognize they have CDK understand the physiological problem involved with the kidney and depend on a medical doctor. Therefore, most patients who have CKD would primarily resort to the professional sector next. This is when individuals seek help from medical professionals. In western medicine, doctors would most likely immediately start a patient on dialysis when kidney damage is suspected and primary treatments would include controlling blood pressure and suggesting lifestyle changes including not smoking, healthy diet, and moderate exercising [2]. In cultures who refuse this type of treatment, there are other alternatives including herbal formulas which are pictured above on the left [3]. Medical anthropologists would certainly be interested in how other cultures that refuse biomedicine would treat CKD. However, with the right mind, the body and the mind could actually help the healing process of CKD. The article by Lock and Scheper-Hughes called "The Mindful Body: The Prolegomenon to Future Work in Medical Anthropology" mentions three 'bodies'. The first body refers to the individual body, almost like a first-person sense of what the illness is like, and how all parts of the body are working together. An anthropologist might want to examine how the individual is dealing with CKD mentally while dealing with the pain or agony with the disease physically. The second body, or the social body, deals with how the body is being represented as a symbol for example. If the kidney is being 'clogged' or over-filling because of insulin resistance or high blood pressure, the patient and the medical team will want to solve this issue to get the 'filter' unclogged from these causes. The third body, or the body politic, focuses on the regulation, control, and surveillance of the bodies. In the case of kidney disease, anthropologists would recommend better healthy lifestyles including eating a healthy diet, not smoking, and exercising to decrease the risk of gaining the disease. One way to target this would be by calling out unhealthy fast food chains and other companies that promote unhealthy life choices.
References
[1] "A practical approach to the treatment of depression in patients with chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease". Kidney International. Viewed on August 13, 204. http://www.nature.com/ki/journal/v81/n3/fig_tab/ki2011358f1.html
[2] National Kidney Center. Viewed on August 13, 2014.http://www.nationalkidneycenter.org/chronic-kidney-disease/
[3] "Stages of Chronic Kidney Disease, What is the End Stage, Kidney Failture Herbal Remedies". Viewed on August 13, 2014. http://avoidingdialysis.wordpress.com/