Speaker : Sylvie Fainzaing (Director of Research at the Inserm - Cermes)
Organiser : Department of Social Sciences of the IFP and Pondicherry University.
Abstract
Whereas religious beliefs are known to influence the way people behave in the field of health and illness, an aspect which has not been studied is the influence of religious culture, even in the absence of religious belief, on people's behaviour towards medication, prescriptions and doctors. I will present the results of research on the link between patients' backgrounds as regards their religious culture (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or Muslim) and their use of pharmaceuticals, in order to show that the cultural family origin of patients impacts, through the major values and the collective history of the groups to which they belong, on their attitudes towards prescriptions, medicines, and doctors.
