IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/psydev/v10y1998i2p115-129.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Culture as a Factor in Causal Understanding of Illness : A Study of Cancer Patients

Author

Listed:
  • Neena Kohli

    (University of Allahabad Allahabad)

  • Ajit K. Dalal

    (University of Allahabad Allahabad)

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to examine the explanatory models which Indian women use to understand their life threatening diseases. Tbepaper also examines the linkages between these causal explanations and their psychological recovery. Earlier work has shown that in the Indian cultural setting, hospitalised patients attributed their illness more often to metaphysical beliefs. A sample of 132 adult cervical cancer patients from rural background was divided into three groups according to the stage of treat ment (first week of radiation therapy, last week of radiation therapy, and subsequent check-up) and interviewed. The findings reveal thatpatients more often attributed their illness to metaphysical beliefs: fate, God's will, karma than to other factors. These fac tors, however, showed no clear linkages with psychological recovery, which was nega tively correlated with attributions to family conditions, physical weakness and mental stress. Implications of these findings for providing better care to cancer patients are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Neena Kohli & Ajit K. Dalal, 1998. "Culture as a Factor in Causal Understanding of Illness : A Study of Cancer Patients," Psychology and Developing Societies, , vol. 10(2), pages 115-129, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:psydev:v:10:y:1998:i:2:p:115-129
    DOI: 10.1177/097133369801000202
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/097133369801000202
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/097133369801000202?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Finkler, Kaja & Correa, Maria, 1996. "Factors influencing patient perceived recovery in Mexico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 199-207, January.
    2. Salmon, Peter & Woloshynowych, Maria & Valor, Roland, 1996. "The measurement of beliefs about physical symptoms in English general practice patients," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 42(11), pages 1561-1567, June.
    3. Blaxter, Mildred, 1983. "The causes of disease : Women talking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 59-69, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lawton, Julia & Peel, Elizabeth & Parry, Odette & Araoz, Gonzalo & Douglas, Margaret, 2005. "Lay perceptions of type 2 diabetes in Scotland: bringing health services back in," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(7), pages 1423-1435, April.
    2. Garthwaite, Kayleigh & Bambra, Clare, 2017. "“How the other half live”: Lay perspectives on health inequalities in an age of austerity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 268-275.
    3. Ben Butlin & Keith Laws & Rebecca Read & Matthew D Broome & Shivani Sharma, 2019. "Concepts of mental disorders in the United Kingdom: Similarities and differences between the lay public and psychiatrists," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 65(6), pages 507-514, September.
    4. Skea, Zoë C. & Entwistle, Vikki A. & Watt, Ian & Russell, Elizabeth, 2008. "'Avoiding harm to others' considerations in relation to parental measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination discussions - An analysis of an online chat forum," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1382-1390, November.
    5. Dixon-Woods, Mary & Ashcroft, Richard E. & Jackson, Clare J. & Tobin, Martin D. & Kivits, Joelle & Burton, Paul R. & Samani, Nilesh J., 2007. "Beyond "misunderstanding": Written information and decisions about taking part in a genetic epidemiology study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(11), pages 2212-2222, December.
    6. Hodgins, Margaret & Millar, Michelle & M Barry, Margaret, 2006. ""...it's all the same no matter how much fruit or vegetables or fresh air we get": Traveller women's perceptions of illness causation and health inequalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 1978-1990, April.
    7. Lawton, Julia & Peel, Elizabeth & Parry, Odette & Douglas, Margaret, 2008. "Shifting accountability: A longitudinal qualitative study of diabetes causation accounts," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 47-56, July.
    8. Alberts, Jantina F. & Sanderman, Robbert & Gerstenbluth, Izzy & van den Heuvel, Wim J. A., 1998. "Sociocultural variations in help-seeking behavior for everyday symptoms and chronic disorders," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 57-72, April.
    9. Mackenzie, Catherine Ruth, 2014. "‘It is hard for mums to put themselves first’: How mothers diagnosed with breast cancer manage the sociological boundaries between paid work, family and caring for the self," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 96-106.
    10. Emslie, Carol & Hunt, Kate, 2008. "The weaker sex? Exploring lay understandings of gender differences in life expectancy: A qualitative study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 808-816, September.
    11. Stevenson, Fiona & Knudsen, Pia, 2008. "Discourses of agency and the search for the authentic self: The case of mood-modifying medicines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 170-181, January.
    12. Armstrong, Natalie & Murphy, Elizabeth, 2008. "Weaving meaning? An exploration of the interplay between lay and professional understandings of cervical cancer risk," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(7), pages 1074-1082, October.
    13. Alan Schwartz & Memoona Hasnain & Arnold R. Eiser & Elizabeth Lincoln & Arthur S. Elstein, 2006. "Patient-Physician Fit: An Exploratory Study of a Multidimensional Instrument," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 26(2), pages 122-133, March.
    14. Magliano, Lorenza & Fiorillo, Andrea & Malangone, Claudio & De Rosa, Corrado & Maj, Mario, 2006. "Social network in long-term diseases: A comparative study in relatives of persons with schizophrenia and physical illnesses versus a sample from the general population," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(6), pages 1392-1402, March.
    15. Ajit K. Dalal, 2000. "Living with a Chronic Disease: Healing and Psychological Adjustment in Indian Society," Psychology and Developing Societies, , vol. 12(1), pages 67-81, March.
    16. Kinderman, Peter & Setzu, Erika & Lobban, Fiona & Salmon, Peter, 2006. "Illness beliefs in schizophrenia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(7), pages 1900-1911, October.
    17. Madden, Sue & Sim, Julius, 2006. "Creating meaning in fibromyalgia syndrome," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(11), pages 2962-2973, December.
    18. KS Jacob, 2017. "Insight in psychosis: Standards, science, ethics and value judgment," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 63(4), pages 345-351, June.
    19. Robinson, Jude & Kirkcaldy, Andrew J., 2007. "'You think that I'm smoking and they're not': Why mothers still smoke in the home," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(4), pages 641-652, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:psydev:v:10:y:1998:i:2:p:115-129. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.