What Is Medical Anthropology, Essay Example

The field of medical anthropology tries to explain many complex phenomena in the relationship between humans, culture, and environment.  While a purely descriptive approach to analyzing these questions might suffice in some circumstances, explanatory models, with their attention to underpinning theory, are more helpful.  This is because: while understanding facts are important, a model that integrates those facts into an explanation allows us to analyze why certain individuals or cultures might act one way and other cultures act another way.  Indeed, in the chapter on explanatory models, Brown provides several case studies that focus on how they can be used in medical anthropology.  For example, Brown examines the health belief models that examine an individual’s beliefs about health as a main factor driving behavior.  That is, if one wants to understand why an individual behaves so in a certain situation, part of the answer can traced back to their beliefs regarding health.  This is very important in cross-cultural contexts because often times individuals coming from different health beliefs that may or may not be compatible with that of the doctor.

As a result, medical students, in addition to studying medical science, should also study different cultural traditions, although it probably should not make up the majority of the curriculum.  It is indeed crucial for doctors to understand different cultures and healing traditions because their patients, especially in the United States, will likely come from a diverse background.  Indeed, if one examines the medical treatment landscape today, individuals in the United States are more open to alternative and different medical methods than ever before.  Even if medical students do not necessarily agree with the scientific foundations underpinning certain traditions, it would be useful to be aware of them in understanding a patient’s preference and how to discuss with a patient their treatment options for a medical disease.

Reference

Brown, P. Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology.  New York: Mcgraw Hill.

(1) Brown provides several case studies on explanatory models. After reading them, do you feel that the study of explanatory models is useful to medical anthropology? Why or why not. Be sure to provide examples to back up your opinions.

(2) While it is important for medical students in our society to learn the science of medicine. How important do you think it is for them to learn about culture, in terms of cross cultural healing traditions, etc.? In other words, in what ways would medical students benefit from being required to learn about cultural issues, such as what we are learning in medical anthropology? Should this type of training be required?