Crossing continents: Meanings and Management of epilepsy among people of Pakistani origin living in the UK
Rhodes, P.J. Small, Neil A.
Rhodes, P.J.
Small, Neil A.
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2011
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Abstract
This chapter considers responses to epilepsy in members of the Pakistani community living in Bradford, a city in the north of England. A complex picture is presented of allegiance to the epistemology of Western medicine and adherence to its medication, while at the same time there is widespread use of folk and religious remedies. People live with a plurality of health beliefs and undertake practices that are apparently contradictory. Belief in therapeutic efficacy is only one element in the intricate mix of factors which influenced a person's use of a particular therapy. Other influences include family and community pressures, opportunity and cost. Over-riding all these are the uncertainty and sense of desperation experienced when conventional biomedicine fails to effect either a cure or adequate control of seizures. Considering beliefs about epilepsy and examining choices about care allows us to explore how the interaction of structural factors and individual preferences in making choices is influenced by the existence of differing health systems and beliefs. The resulting hybrid experience, we argue, is likely to be a characteristic of migrant communities worldwide.
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Rhodes P and Small NA (2011) Crossing continents: Meanings and management of epilepsy among people of Pakistani origin living in the UK. In: Pinikahana J and Walker C (Eds) Society, Behavior and Epilepsy. New York: Nova Science Publishers. 163-174.
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