Sante Publique. 2000 Mar; 12(1): 21-30.

[Mothers' perceptions about their children's acute diarrhea in the Quito suburbs]

Briand S, Leyrit M, Lauwers V, Garnung M.

CREDES International, Paris.

This study was performed in an urban marginal neighborhood of Quito (Ecuador). It aims to understand how the mothers with children (less than five years old) suffering from diarrhea are using the health center. We did 48 semi-directed interviews with mothers coming to the health center. The results show the various representations of diarrhea (symptomatic patterns and explanatory models: e.g. diarrhea due to supernatural cause, diarrhea related to heat and cold balance...) and the related processes of therapeutic search; For example, when the mother thinks that the diarrhea is due to a supernatural cause, she immediately goes to the traditional practitioner. The existing cultural gap between health practitioners of the center and the population of this neighborhood incite to consider differently the content of health education messages.