Skip to main content
Canadian Family Physician logoLink to Canadian Family Physician
. 1992 May;38:1177–1182.

Should Medical Anthropology be Required for Family Physicians?

Becoming sensitive to cultural dimensions of illness

George L Deagle
PMCID: PMC2145826  PMID: 21221336

Abstract

The educational preparation of practitioners might change as family medicine shifts its emphasis to a more humanistic approach. Medical anthropology offers particular promise as a training experience. Learning about the role of culture, including beliefs and values surrounding illness, can supplement basic science training. Improved delivery of health care is likely if caregivers are sensitive to cultural dimensions of patients' illnesses.

Full text

PDF
1177

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Brown J., Stewart M., McCracken E., McWhinney I. R., Levenstein J. The patient-centred clinical method. 2. Definition and application. Fam Pract. 1986 Jun;3(2):75–79. doi: 10.1093/fampra/3.2.75. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Galazka S. S., Eckert J. K. Clinically applied anthropology: concepts for the family physician. J Fam Pract. 1986 Feb;22(2):159–165. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Helman C. G. Limits of biomedical explanation. Lancet. 1991 May 4;337(8749):1080–1083. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(91)91720-f. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Kleinman A. The cultural meanings and social uses of illness. A role for medical anthropology and clinically oriented social science in the development of primary care theory and research. J Fam Pract. 1983 Mar;16(3):539–545. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Levenstein J. H., McCracken E. C., McWhinney I. R., Stewart M. A., Brown J. B. The patient-centred clinical method. 1. A model for the doctor-patient interaction in family medicine. Fam Pract. 1986 Mar;3(1):24–30. doi: 10.1093/fampra/3.1.24. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Like R. C., Steiner R. P. Medical anthropology and the family physician. Fam Med. 1986 Mar-Apr;18(2):87–92. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Stewart M., Brown J., Levenstein J., McCracken E., McWhinney I. R. The patient-centred clinical method. 3. Changes in residents' performance over two months of training. Fam Pract. 1986 Sep;3(3):164–167. doi: 10.1093/fampra/3.3.164. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Canadian Family Physician are provided here courtesy of College of Family Physicians of Canada

RESOURCES