• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Geriatrics

Geriatrics

Ethnogeriatrics

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • Culture Med
    • Ethnogeriatrics Overview
      • Introduction
      • Patterns of Health Risk
      • Fund of Knowledge
      • Assessment
      • Delivery of Care
    • Glossary
    • Interview Strategies
  • Ethno Med
    • Background
    • African American
    • Alaska Native
    • American Indian
    • Asian Indian American
    • Chinese American
    • Filipino American
    • Hawaiian and Pacific Islander
    • Hispanic / Latino American
    • Hmong American
    • Japanese American
    • Korean American
    • Pakistani American
    • Vietnamese American
  • Medical Interpreters
    • Microlectures
    • Partnering with medical interpreter
  • Training
  • Media Coverage
  • About Us
    • Overview
    • SAGE Certificate Program
    • iSAGE Team
    • Contact iSAGE
    • Aging Adult Services at Stanford
    • System Requirements

Culturally Appropriate Geriatric Care: Fund of Knowledge

 “To understand the concepts of health and illness in the Hmong culture, providers must understand the interlocking connections between the spiritual world and the physical world.”

Traditional Health Beliefs

Hmong elders understand health as a harmonious balance of forces in the natural world, the supernatural world, and between the two worlds (Cha 2000; Culhane-Pera & Xiong, 2003). Similarly, illness is an imbalance of these forces. To understand the concepts of health and illness in the Hmong culture, providers must understand the interlocking connections between the spiritual world and the physical world.   The natural and the spiritual worlds affect and reinforce each other, so illnesses may have both biological and spiritual causes, although during the course of an illness the perceived etiologies may change. Natural causes include imbalances of metaphysical forces (similar to the Chinese concept of yin/yang), change in weather, bad food, heredity, aging, and germs.   Hmong ideas of germs (called kab in White Hmong, kaab in Green Hmong and phav nyaj in Laotian, a common term used by Hmong elders) are closely aligned with Western concepts.   Hmong elders are beginning to understand chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, and coronary disease that result from changes in lifestyle. Illnesses believed to be derived from natural causes are often treated with Western Medicine and traditional techniques ranging from massage, acupuncture, and dermabrasion, to the application or ingestion of a variety of herbal preparations or other organic substances (Bliatout, 1991). People often use these techniques and remedies in conjunction with shamanic healing ceremonies, for illnesses that also have supernatural etiologies.

    Pages:
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

Primary Sidebar

Learning Resources

Culturemed Image

Hmong American

  • Hmong American Older Adults
  • Learning Objectives
  • Introduction & Overview
    • History
    • Demographics
    • Spirituality/Cosmology
    • Family/Clan Structure
    • Aging Process
    • Laotian Vs. US Perception
  • Patterns of Health Risk
    • Older Adult Health Issues
      • Cancer
      • Mental Health
  • Adult Health Issues
    • Cardiovascular Disease: Experience
    • Cardiovascular Diseases: Epidemiology
    • Other Concerns

Culturally Appropriate Care

  • Fund of Knowledge
    • Traditional Health Beliefs
    • Traditional Healing Modalities
    • Herbal Medicine
    • Spiritual Illnesses
      • Shaman
      • Ritual Healers
  • Promoting Cross-Cultural Understanding
    • Nine Aspects that Promote Cross-Cultural Understanding
    • Tips for Clinicians
      • Communication
      • Establishing Rapport and Trust
      • Eliciting the Patient’s Perspective
      • Decision Making and Disclosure
      • Patient and Family Education
    • End-of-Life Care
      • Relaying a Terminal Illness
      • Advance Directives
      • Care of the Dying Person
      • Post-Mortem Care
  • Cancer Care

Learning Resources

  • Instructional Strategies: Case Study
    • Case Study: Part 1
    • Case Study: Part 2
    • Reset the Case
      • Subsequent Care: Part I
      • Subsequent Care: Part 2
      • Subsequent Care: Part 3
      • Subsequent Care: Part 4
  • List of References
  • Searchable Reference Database
  • Links
  • Glossary
  • Interview Strategies
© 2019 Stanford Medicine
Privacy Policy • Terms of Use