Dimensiones culturales en el proceso de atención primaria infantil: perspectivas de las madres

Abstract

Alarcón-Muñoz AM, Vidal-Herrera AC. Cultural dimensions of the childhood primary health care delivery from the mothers’ perceptions in the Araucania-Chile. Salud Publica Mex 2005;47:440-446. Abstract Objective. To explore the cultural dimensions of the chil- dhood primary health care delivery process from the mo- thers’ perceptions in the Araucania region of Chile. Material and Methods. Qualitative study performed in the year 2003 within the zone with the highest ethnicity rate of the coun- try. Ninety four Mapuche and non-Mapuche mothers agreed to be in depth interviewed. Results. The analysis drew three cultural dimensions: a) Explanatory models of disease were associated with cultural, political-economy, and environmen- tal factors; b) The therapeutic itinerary blends indigenous, popular, and biomedical resources and; c) Health care deliv- ery process lacks of cultural competence. Conclusions. The mothers explain their children diseases articulating religio- us, magic, and natural (hot, cold, humidity) causes. The main challenge of the primary healthcare delivery process is to overcome the communicational barriers due to the social and linguistic differences between mothers and health care providers.