Female pelvic floor dysfunction in the Middle East: a tale of three factors--culture, religion and socialization of health role stereotypes.

摘要

In modern medicine especially, we see clearly that medicine is and must be a reflection of contemporaneous culture. We should teach our students, in light of history, that they must live up, not to the most conspicuous elements, but to the best that there is in their culture, should understand its weakness, and should try to correct some of the evils which too great loyalty to their culture may produce. [Emerson CP (1927) The historical method of teaching clinical medicine. In: Round table conference: 37th annual meeting, Cleveland, October 26, 1926. Bulletin of the Association of Medical Colleges, vol 2, pp 193-201].The art and science of medicine has evolved during the years through the encounter and cross-fertilization between philosophies, idealogies, and folkloric practices from different cultures and civilizations. The benefit of gaining valuable clinical information on women from conducting international research in several countries, indeed on a multinational patient population, as well as the important biological influences of sociodemographic, economic, genetic, and environmental factors are thus well recognized. The impact of sophisticated and often competing anthropologic and societal variables such as ethnicity, race, culture, religion, spirituality, geopolitical orientation, indigenous psychology, personality, and gender identity onindividual's realization of health role, experience of health and illness, and utilization of health services is, however, less appreciated in women health studies, particularly in urogynecology [1-5].