Between Two Worlds: The Use of Traditional and Western Health Services by Chinese Immigrants
- 1 January 1999
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Journal of Community Health
- Vol. 24 (6), 421-437
- https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1018742505785
Abstract
This study examined the use of traditional and Western health services by Chinese immigrants, as well as the cultural and socioeconomic factors affecting health-seeking behaviors and health service utilization patterns among the study population from the perspectives of consumers and Chinese health care providers. Two instruments were used for data collection. The first, a consumer instrument, was designed for interviews of service recipients; the second, a health provider instrument, was designed to elicit information from traditional and Western providers. A few topics in the former instrument were cross-examined from the perspectives of health care providers. The investigation employed a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods for data collection. Qualitative ethnographic methods used included: (1) participant-observation, (2) face-to-face interview, and (3) case study. To complement the qualitative data, structured quantitative survey were conducted with all selected informants. A total of 105 informants participated in the study: 75 Chinese consumers and 30 Chinese health professionals. The latter group was composed of Western physicians and traditional practitioners. Results revealed several patterns of health-seeking and service utilization behaviors among the Chinese of Houston and Los Angeles. These included high rates of self-treatment and home remedies (balanced diets and other alternative medicines); medium rates of utilization of integrated Western and traditional health services, including travel to country of origin for care; and low rates of exclusive utilization of Western or traditional Chinese treatments.Keywords
This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- Western and traditional medicine in Africa: a century of encounter.1995
- The mainstreaming of alternative medicine.1993
- Planning health care in South Africa—Is there a role for traditional healers?Social Science & Medicine (1982), 1992
- Health care for new Americans. Blending traditional and Western medicine.1992
- Traditional healers and community health.1992