Men and health care in impoverished families in Amazonia

Abstract

We investigated the position of men in relation to health care in low-income families at the Amazon region. We completed 11 interviews with the men and their families and with 21 health care professionals responsible for them. We made observations of the contexts in which they live and of the use and provision of health service process. Data were analyzed from the perspective of cultural holism-individualism. We found that men tend to follow traditional social roles in managing their own and their family's health. Health care for themselves is usually emergency care, superficial and mediated by the woman. The man's care for others is primarily focused on fulfilling the role of provider. However, men dominated by indigenous culture and young men with more modern social and family views tend not to follow this pattern. As a rule, the parents reinforce the main cultural tendencies of male behaviour related to health care. The professionals, in turn, tend to dismiss male's claims, seeking mistakenly to combat sexism, and fail to recognize differences based on cultural repertoires.