<br><span class="gmail_quote">From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC)</b> <<a href="mailto:ruglucia@paho.org">ruglucia@paho.org</a>><br>crossposted from: <a href="mailto:EQUIDAD@listserv.paho.org">EQUIDAD@listserv.paho.org</a><br>
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<h2 style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><b><font face="Arial" color="maroon" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">A glossary of culture in epidemiology</span></font></b></h2>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><strong><b><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><br></span></font></b></strong><strong><b><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="1"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">D J Hruschka¹</span></font></b></strong><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="1"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, <strong><b><font face="Arial"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">C Hadley²</span></font></b></strong> <br>
¹ Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA <br>² Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA <br></span></font><b><i><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health - November </span></font></i></b><b><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> 2008; </span></font></b><b><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">62</span></font></b><b><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">:947-951<br>
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<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Abstract at: <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/62/11/947?etoc" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/62/11/947?etoc</span></font></a> <br>
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<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"…..Culture frequently is used to explain population differences in health. This glossary defines key concepts and terms relevant to the concept of culture and describes three challenges—definitional, theoretical, and methodological—in identifying specific pathways by which culture affects health. </span></font></p>

<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><a name="11d2095da219a90c_S1"></a><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Culture is frequently invoked to account for population differencesin health and to explain the diverse ways that people interpretand treat similar medical conditions. Underlying many uses ofthe term is the view of culture as a shared system of learnednorms, beliefs, values and behaviours that differ across populationsdefined by region, nationality, ethnicity or religion.^{<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/62/11/947#B1%23B1" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">1</span></font></a>–<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/62/11/947#B3%23B3" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">3</span></font></a>      <br>
<br>}Culture has been proposed to affect health in three key ways</span></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in"><font face="Symbol" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol"><span>·<font face="Times New Roman" size="1"><span>         </span></font></span></span></font>^{<font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </span></font>}<font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">First, people use culturally specific explanatory models tothink about, talk about, and direct care for health problems.This can lead to different patterns of health-seeking and prevention,as well as mismatched provision of care.^{<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/62/11/947#B4%23B4" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">4</span></font></a>–<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/62/11/947#B6%23B6" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">6</span></font></a>} </span></font></p>

<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in"><font face="Symbol" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol"><span>·<font face="Times New Roman" size="1"><span>         </span></font></span></span></font><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Second, culturalhabits and practices can protect against, modify or create novelvectors for transmissible disease through, for example, eatingculturally preferred raw or undercooked food,^{<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/62/11/947#B7%23B7" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">7</span></font></a>} ^{<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/62/11/947#B8%23B8" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">8</span></font></a>} hygienic practicessuch as hand-washing,^{<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/62/11/947#B9%23B9" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">9</span></font></a>} modes of sexual activity,^{<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/62/11/947#B10%23B10" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">10</span></font></a>} and patternsof social interaction such as mass pilgrimages.^{<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/62/11/947#B11%23B11" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">11</span></font></a>} </span></font></p>

<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in"><font face="Symbol" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol"><span>·<font face="Times New Roman" size="1"><span>         </span></font></span></span></font><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Third, cultureindirectly influences health when learned beliefs, values, andnorms affect such daily activities as food consumption,^{<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/62/11/947#B12%23B12" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">12</span></font></a>} physicalactivity, and drug use^{<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/62/11/947#B13%23B13" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy">13</span></font></a>} in a way that increases (or decreases)the risk of non-communicable diseases.^…."</span></font></p>

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