Beliefs About Children's Illness Among Rural Guatemalan Women.

Abstract

In this paper we examine women's beliefs about the causes of childhood illness in rural Guatemala, using information from a qualitative survey. We focus on beliefs about the two major causes of child morbidity and mortality in developing countries: diarrhea and acute respiratory infection (ARI). Our work in this area is motivated by previous demographic research on the role of family characteristics in affecting child mortality, especially in developing countries. Much of this research suggests that some parents are more effective at preventing child mortality than others, even when economic status and living conditions are held constant (Das Gupta, 1990; Pebley, Goldman and Rodriguez, 1996). Since parents' ability to prevent children's illnesses and to seek effective treatment depends in part on their beliefs about the causes of these illnesses, increased knowledge related to parents' beliefs about illness is necessary for a better understanding of how parents make health-related choices.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1996
Accession Number
ADA317354

Entities

People

  • Anne Pebley
  • Elena Hurtado
  • Noreen Goldman

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anthropology
  • Body Weight
  • Central America
  • Data Storage Systems
  • Demography
  • Diarrhea
  • Digestive System Processes
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Families (Human)
  • Health Services
  • Human Behavior
  • Infection
  • Medical Personnel
  • Pain
  • Public Health
  • Respiratory Tract Diseases
  • Social Sciences

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