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Understanding, eliciting and negotiating clients' multicultural health beliefs
1Asian Mutual Assistance Program, Toledo, Ohio.
Abstract:
People of many cultures explain and treat illness in ways that are different from and that may conflict with the biomedical beliefs and practices on which the American health care system is based. Eliciting clients' health beliefs and negotiating treatment plans with them can help avoid problems caused by discrepancies in belief systems. This article presents three major categories of belief systems commonly found in the United States as well as other countries. Questions designed to discover clients' health beliefs are included, along with guidelines for arriving at plans of care that accommodate those beliefs. Case studies are provided that illustrate this process of negotiation.
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