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Healing Practices

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Handbook of Immigrant Health

Abstract

Immigrants to a new country bring with them, as a part of their cultural and experiential heritage, systems of health beliefs and practices that are familiar, are consonant with broader cultural goals and values, and have reputations for efficacy based on many generations of empirical observation and on considerable cultural authority. These healing systems typically remain active and viable in immigrant communities in the new country and often continue to serve as important health care resources over the course of many generations. Acceptance and use of biomedical care does not preclude continued use of indigenous healing practices, nor is use or abandonment of these traditional practices a necessary correlate of acculturation (Castro, Furth, & Karlow, 1984; Gould-Martin & Ngin, 1981; Miller, 1990; Nall & Speilberg, 1978).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, MCP, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19102, USA

    Bonnie B. O’Connor

  2. Hahnemann School of Medicine, Allegheny University of the Health Sciences, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19102, USA

    Bonnie B. O’Connor

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  1. Bonnie B. O’Connor
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106-4945, USA

    Sana Loue

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O’Connor, B.B. (1998). Healing Practices. In: Loue, S. (eds) Handbook of Immigrant Health. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1936-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1936-6_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-1938-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-1936-6

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