Health care in a community of followers of traditional African-Brazilian religions.
OBJECTIVE
To understand the concept of health and the source of psychological distress among followers of a traditional African-Brazilian religion.


METHODS
Qualitative study performed in a community of followers of a traditional African-Brazilian religion, in the city of Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil, between 2007 and 2008. The priest/Babalorixá and six followers of this community participated in the study. Open interviews, which were recorded and subsequently transcribed, were conducted to collect data and construct the corpus of analysis. Report categorization, based on the complex systemic approach, enabled the construction of two main themes: 1) religious community and concept of health, and 2) origin of psychological distress and cultural identity.


RESULTS
In this religious community, traditional health therapies, such as the use of herbs, baths, diets and/or initiation rites, were associated with conventional therapies proposed by the Sistema Unico de Saúde (SUS - Unified Health System). Bonds with and belonging to a territory, the relationships among individuals, and the relationship among their spiritual, psychological and physical dimensions are considered in their concepts of psychological distress and health.


CONCLUSIONS
The way to understand and act in the world, as experienced in this community, with its myths, rites, beliefs and values, constitutes a set of legitimate types of knowledge in its context, which oftentimes opposes and goes beyond professionals' technical-scientific knowledge and truths. This community is a space marked by welcoming, counseling and treatment of followers, where the physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions are integrated in these practices. As regards the black population health, psychological distress results from their having been uprooted from African black cultures.
Alves
Miriam Cristiane
MC
Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, 91240-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. oba.olorioba@gmail.com
Seminotti
Nedio
N
D044383:Black People; D001938:Brazil; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D016488:Medicine, African Traditional; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011320:Primary Health Care; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D029181:Spirituality