Description
Book SynopsisRethinking Culture
in Health Communication
An interdisciplinary overview of health communication using a cultural lensuniquely focused on social interactions in health contexts
Patients, health professionals, and policymakers embody cultural constructs that impact healthcare processes. Rethinking Culture in Health Communication explores the ways in which culture influences healthcare, introducing new approaches to understanding social relationships and health policies as a dynamic process involving cultural values, expectations, motivations, and behavioral patterns. This innovative textbook integrates theories and practices in health communication, public health, and medicine to help students relate fundamental concepts to their personal experiences and develop an awareness of how all individuals and groups are shaped by culture.
The authors present a foundational framework explaining how cultures can be understood from four perspectivesMagic Conscious
Table of Contents
Acknowledgment ix
1 Rethinking Culture in Health Communication 1
2 Cultural Consciousness I: Magic Consciousness and Emotions in Health 26
3 Cultural Consciousness II: Mythic Connection and the Social Meanings of Health and Illness 51
4 Cultural Consciousness III: Perspectival Thinking and the Emergence of Modern Medicine 80
5 Cultural Consciousness IV: Integral Fusion and Health Professionals in Healthcare Settings 107
6 Culture and Health Behaviors: Culture Assumptions in Health Theories and Practices 138
7 Health Literacy: Cultural Approaches to Health Behaviors and Decision-Making 163
8 Group-Based Identities: Cultural Approaches to Social Stigma and Health Practices 192
9 Uncertainty in Health and Illness: From Perspectival Thinking to Integral Fusion 226
10 Social Support: Understanding Supportive Relationships Through Cultural Perspectives 257
11 Transformative Technologies: Cultural Approaches to Technologies in Health Contexts 293
12 Health Disparities: Observations and Solutions Through Different Cultural Approaches 328
13 When Cultural Perspectives Collide: Community-Based Health Interventions in Marginalized Populations 368
14 Distributive Justice: Embedding Equity and Justice in Structural Barriers and Health Policies 404
Index 445
