The riverside care: health popular practice on Mutum Island’s families

Abstract

This is a qualitative study which aims at knowing some popular practices of health care among families of Mutum Island/Porto Rico - PR and also recognizing the importance of understanding their cultural meaning for the nurse care. For this purpose, we used the ethnographic method and the interactive observation technique for data collecting, which occurred in three moments of the years 2000 and 2001. Five Mutum Island’s families shared this study. Some popular care was mentioned by these families, among them we can cite the usage of medical plants, religious belief as a way of health supporting, feeding, care related to the environment risks, and so on. We understand that these ways of expressing care are not isolated from other care practices, but they are connected to people’s life and therefore they need to be known and appreciated by health professionals