St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
The study of health cultures and the factors influencing them is a relatively new field of knowledge, dedicated to researching the mutual influence of culture and health. The article is devoted to the concept of health culture and its modern understanding in anthropological and sociological research. The author considers the evolution of the health culture concept based on modern research and outlines the key topics of scientific works devoted to the study of health culture and the peculiarities of its understanding. The research shows that culture influences all stages of disease treatment and health maintenance, from the choice of language and behavioral patterns to understanding the uniqueness of the disease and diagnoses by the individual. The prospects of this concept are determined based on various aspects of its consideration. Currently there is no generally accepted definition of the health culture concept. Peoplel's individual characteristics and individual understanding of health in the context of different cultures and their differences are considered to be important aspects of the concept. At the same time, in anthropological and sociological studies, the very concept of culture, as fundamental and formative for health behavior is replaced by individual meanings of understanding one’s health.
medical sociology, medical anthropology, health culture, health protection, health culture evolution
1. Yamada A.-M., Marsella A. J. The study of culture and psychopathology: fundamental concepts and historic forces. Handbook of multicultural mental health: assessment and treatment of diverse populations, eds. Paniagua F. A., Yamada A.-M. Elsevier Academic Press, 2013, 3-23. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/B978-0-12-394420-7.00001-1
2. Van Langenhove L., Harré R. Cultural stereotypes and positioning theory. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 1994, 24(4): 359-372. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5914.1994.tb00260.x
3. Kleinman A. Anthropology and psychiatry: the role of culture in cross-cultural research on illness. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 1987, 151(4): 447-454. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.151.4.447
4. Romanucci-Ross L., Moerman D. E., Tancredi L. R. The anthropology of medicine: from culture to method. N. Y.: Praeger, 1983, 400.
5. Lewis G. Cultural influences on illness behavior: a medical anthropological approach. The relevance of social science for medicine. Culture, illness, and healing, vol. 1, eds. Eisenberg L., Kleinman A. Dordrecht: Springer, 1981, 151-162. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8379-3_7
6. Helman C. Culture, health and illness. 5th ed. L.: CRC press, 2007, 512.
7. Mitchell D. P. Postmodernism, health and illness. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1996, 23(1): 201-205. https://elibrary.ru/eqehvz
8. Langdon E. J., Wiik F. B. Anthropology, health and illness: an introduction to the concept of culture applied to the health sciences. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 2010, 18(3): 459-466. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-11692010000300023
9. Culture, bodies and the sociology of health, ed. Ettorre E. L.: Ashgate, 2010, 178.
10. Anthropological approaches to psychological medicine: crossing bridges, eds. Skultans V., Cox J. L. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2000, 304.
11. Kleinman A. Illness meanings and illness behaviour. Illness behavior: a multidisciplinary model, eds. McHugh S., Vallis T. M. N. Y.: Springer, 1986, 149-160. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5257-0_9
12. Zborowski M. Cultural components in responses to pain. Journal of Social Issues, 8(4): 16-30. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1952.tb01860.x
13. Joralemon D. Exploring medical anthropology. 4th ed. L.: Routledge, 2017, 170. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315470610
14. Singer M. Critical medical anthropology. Encyclopedia of medical anthropology, eds. Ember C. R., Ember M. Boston: Springer, 2004, 23-30. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-29905-X_3
15. Herselman S. "Health care through a cultural lens": insights from medical anthropology. Current Allergy & Clinical Immunology, 2007, 20(2): 62-65.
16. Garro L. C. Cognitive medical anthropology. Encyclopedia of medical anthropology, eds. Ember C. R., Ember M. Boston: Springer, 2004, 12-23. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-29905-X_2
17. Van der Geest S. Medical anthropology. The Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of health, illness, behavior, and society. John Wiley & Sons, 2014, 1313-1324. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118410868.wbehibs487
18. Lekhtsier V. L., Gotlib A. S., Finkelstein I. E. Medical choice of chronic patients in a large Russian city: situations, practices, factors. Sotsiologicheskiy Zhurnal, 2019, 25(2): 78-98. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.19181/socjour.2019.25.2.6387
19. Mikhel D. V. Studying culture, health and illness: medical anthropology as a field of knowledge. Vestnik Saratovskogo gosudarstvennogo tekhnicheskogo universiteta, 2013, 2(1): 205-217. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/reaxaz
20. Finkelstein I. E. Model of decision-making in medical anthropology of L. Garro. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Sociology, 2018, 11(1): 79-93. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu12.2018.107
21. Lekhtsier V. L. Subjective meanings of illness: basic methodological distinctions and approaches to research. Sotsiologicheskiy Zhurnal, 2009, (4): 22-40. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/pbdrhl
22. Silverman D., Bloor M. Patient-centred medicine: some sociological observations on its constitution, penetration, and cultural assonance. In: Bloor M. Selected writings in medical sociological research. L.: Routledge, 2019, 117-143.
23. Key concepts in medical sociology, eds. Monaghan L., Gabe J. 3rd ed. Sage, 2022, 428. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526401687
24. Smirnov N. K. Actual problems of healthy education. Siberian Pedagogical Journal, 2012, (9): 59-64. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/oacefz
25. Spector R. E. Cultural diversity in health and illness. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 2002, 13(3): 197-199. https://doi.org/10.1177/10459602013003007
26. Franklin S. Embodied progress: a cultural account of assisted conception. L.: Routledge, 1997, 264. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203414965
27. Lukyantseva D. V. Past, present and future of medical standards. Problemy standartizatsii v zdravookhranenii, 2007, (8): 3-7. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/iwqobn
28. Morris D. B. Illness and culture in the postmodern age. University of California, 2000, 360.
29. Conrad P. Parallel play in medical anthropology and medical sociology. The American Sociologist, 1997, 28(4): 90-100. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-997-1021-4
30. Gere C. Digital culture. 2nd ed. Reaktion Books, 2009, 240.
31. Whyte S. R., Van der Geest S., Hardon A. Social lives of medicines. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2002, 212.
