Minor
International Health Studies
PORTFOLIO
PART 1,2,3
Anouk Brands | 1674888| GKO-IHS-.1-15B|26-01-2018
,Contents
Part 1 ....................................................................................................................................................... 4
Assignment one ....................................................................................................................................... 5
1.1 My interpretation of culture: .................................................................................................. 5
1.2 Characteristics of the Philippine culture ................................................................................. 6
1.3 The Philippine Health care system .......................................................................................... 8
1.4 The development of healthcare in the Philippines ............................................................... 11
Assignment two ..................................................................................................................................... 12
2.1 Preparation ’At home activity’ .............................................................................................. 12
2.2 After my visit ......................................................................................................................... 13
2.3 Deardorff model .................................................................................................................... 15
Assignment three .................................................................................................................................. 16
3.1 My own fish bowl .................................................................................................................. 16
3.2 Traveling to a different fish bowl .......................................................................................... 17
3.3 EU and Deardorff .................................................................................................................. 19
3.4 Personal and professional goals related to the Deardorff model ......................................... 20
Assignment four .................................................................................................................................... 23
4.1 Health hazards in the Philippines .......................................................................................... 23
4.2 Safety plan ............................................................................................................................. 24
4.3 Culture shock ......................................................................................................................... 25
4.4 Emergency card and checklist ............................................................................................... 26
Part 2 ..................................................................................................................................................... 56
Assignment one: ................................................................................................................................... 56
1.1 Own experience with culture shock…………………………………………………………………………………58
1.2 Reflection of a meaningful incident .................................................................................... 57
1.3 Model of Bennett ................................................................................................................ 59
Assignment two: .................................................................................................................................... 60
2.1 A typical day ...................................................................................................................... 60
2.2 Goals and professional and personal development .......................................................... 62
2.3 Feedback............................................................................................................................ 67
Assignment three .................................................................................................................................. 68
3.1 The interview………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….……70
Assignment four: ................................................................................................................................... 70
4.1 Own defenition of culture shock………………………………………………………………………………..……72
4.2 Helman ............................................................................................................................... 70
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, 4.3 The healthcare system in a formal and informal way........................................................... 71
4.4 The level of wellbeing in the Philippines............................................................................... 72
Part 3 ..................................................................................................................................................... 75
Assignment one ..................................................................................................................................... 75
1.1 Personal and professional development .............................................................................. 75
1.2 Comparison healthcare systems ........................................................................................... 77
1.3 Conclusion: ............................................................................................................................ 79
1.4 Appendices ............................................................................................................................ 79
EXTRA……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….85
Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 91
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,Part 1
Introduction
This portfolio represents my work and achievements throughout the minor International Health
Studies. This portfolio is my original work and is focused on the theme ‘Get out of your comfort
zone’. The portfolio consists of assignments, presentations about culture, health and illness. Further,
the portfolio also consists of goals, harvest and participation during the minor HIS. Personally, the
portfolio serves to changes in my self-awareness, cultural-awareness and frame of reference. These
skills are useful during my internship and period abroad in the Philippines.
Literature
I used the book of Helman to improve my skills and to learn more about culture, health and illness.
By using this book, I gained more knowledge about the aforementioned subjects and that contributes
to my cultural-awareness. I wrote down some key points and interesting findings.
Chapter 1:
1. Anthropology: several branches. Physical, material, social, cultural, medical, critical medical,
clinically applied medical anthropology.
2. Culture: that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and
any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Three various
levels of culture.
3. Age- grade: category of persons who happen to fall within a particular culturally defined age
range.
Chapter 2:
1. Beliefs in the ‘ideal ‘body: social function, beauty, cosmetic surgery, circumcision, cultural
obesity, eating disorders.
2. Beliefs body functioning: hot-cold theory, ayurvedic, yin-yang → imbalance → disease.
3. Commodification: new kinship, impersonal thing/lifesaving things, sell for money, liminal
beings.
Chapter 5:
Interesting findings:
- Presentation of illness and others’ response to it are largely determined by social cultural
factors.
- Cultural factors determine which or signs are perceived as abnormal.
- Definitions of health also vary between social classes. Poor people need to keep working
regardless of what they feel.
- Where many people in a culture or community agree about a pattern of symptoms and signs,
significance and treatment, it becomes an illness ‘entity’ or folk illness.
- Ill people may give differ explanations for their illness to themselves, family and doctor.
- The social and economic context will also influence the types of treatment patients can
afford for their illness, and whether it takes place.
- A health professional working in any culture or society should therefore be aware how folk
illnesses are generated, how they are acquired and displayed, and how this may affect
patients’ behaviour and the diagnosis of health.
- Culture bound syndromes become metaphors for many of the terrors of daily life.
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, - Wrong diet can also cause ill health.
- People who have more control over their own lives accept more responsibility for ill health
causation than whose who perceive themselves as socially and economically powerless.
- Blaming other people for one’s ill health is a common feature of smaller societies, where
interpersonal conflicts are frequent.
- Illness was often described as a ‘reminder’ from God for some behaviour lapse. For example,
neglecting to go to church or not thanking God for daily blessings.
- Factors that influences the pathways to the doctor: availability of medical care, the failure or
success of the treatment within the popular or folk sector and how the patient and other
around him perceives the problem.
- Symptoms and signs must fit with societies view of what constitutes illness in order to gain
sympathetic attention, and for treatment to be arranged.
Assignments
Assignment one
1.1 My interpretation of culture:
I think that culture is what humankind creates. That’s my interpretation because, culture is a way of
living and how people are used to live. People learnt this way of living from other people (in history)
and are sharing culture with the society.
Culture contains several elements that have to do with activity. Think about elements like food,
belief, religion, art, law, dancing, movies, monuments etc. Every society within a country or the
country by itself gives different meanings to these activities.
Culture is everywhere. For example, take a walk in Amsterdam and you’ll see a lot of various cultures.
When you look around you’ll see people with the same background/culture sticking together most of
the time. Culture gives people the feeling that they are a member of a society and that they really
belong. It doesn’t matter where people are going, when they meet someone of their own culture it
feels conversant. People recognise the habits of a culture and that creates a bond. That’s the thing
what I like most about culture. Culture is changing because of the development of people.
Why cultures differ from each other, I think, is that there are diverse levels of culture. Some cultures
are very openminded meanwhile others aren’t. I think the difference arise from the history,
experience, rules and law of a culture. I think that these elements contribute/determine the uses and
habits of a culture.
Definitions of culture:
Anthropologist have provided many definitions of culture. But perhaps the most famous definition I
found is by Taylor (1871): ‘That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society’ (Helman,
Culture Health and Illness, 2007).
The second definition I found in the book of Helman, is by Keesing and Strathern: Cultures comprise
‘Systems of shared ideas, systems of concepts and rules and meanings that underlie and are
expressed in the way that human being live’ (Helman, Culture Health and Illness, 2007).
I found other definitions by using scientific articles/sources.
1. I quote a definition of culture by Matsumoto (2009): ‘A unique meaning and information
system, shared by a group and transmitted across generations, that allows the group to meet
basic needs of survival, by coordinating social behavior to achieve a viable existence, to
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