Native-American and Latino-American Cultural Models

In this chapter we consider cultural models of gender, nature, and self. We also survey the exceptionally high volume of applied research conducted in this (or these) cultural area(s). Numerous studies on illness choices and particularly the relationship between illness choices and modernization are discussed. We survey traditional illness theories such as a balance between hot and cold foods, the rise of high blood pressure, and the way it is embedded in both scientific and folk etiologies of illness. Many of the researchers used consensus analysis and the chapter is rich in these types of studies. We also survey conceptions of self and society in the context of social issues such as substance abuse and other illnesses and treatment choices. Particularly emphasized is the participation of the community in treatment choices and the importance of the social in the cultural models of personal well-being.