Soc Sci Med. 1991 ; 32(12): 1361-6.

Cree Indian healing practices and western health care: a comparative analysis.

Morse JM, Young DE, Swartz L.

Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

In this article, Cree Indian methods of treating disease are compared with the treatment process and procedures used in the Western health Care system. Ethnographic data permitted the identification of the five components of Cree healing: the ritual, contract, treatment, didactic, and closure components. These components are compared with equivalent phases in the physician-patient and nurse-patient relationship. In particular, the process of comparison permits the identification of incongruities that the Cree may encounter when using the Western system. These include the inability to identify one's own state of health and abnormalities; a passive, rather than a participatory role in healing; the incomprehensible notion of "silent" diseases and preventative treatment; the specialization of the caring, curing, and counselling roles of practitioners and the limited perspective of "holism" in health care.