Les représentations culturelles de la douleur au Bénin ont-elles un rôle dans son ressenti, dans son expression, dans son soulagement ? Quelques outils pour une meilleure compréhension des représentations de la maladie dans un pays d'Afrique de l'ouest

摘要

Pain is a difficult experience to apprehend, owing to the multiplicity of its components (sensorial, cognitive, emotional, cultural…). Particularly, in an intercultural context, the different visions of the pain concept and the disease concept, may cause difficulties in the Doctor-patient relationship. We have conducted a qualitative study in Benin, from July to October 2013 with twenty-four patients, by interviewing them about their pain, through semi -structured interviews. The aim was to understand the cultural representations of pain, by analyzing their expression, the representation of its origin and the relief strategies implemented. In our study, many patients wondered about the origin of their aches, confronting its natural or magical origins, even more if there was a conflict in the community. Natural origin was rather evoked, in situations with well-known and understood symptoms, whereas spells were rather associated to conflicts in the community. Thus, the disease was considered at the level of the entourage rather than the individual one. Therapeutic strategies were influenced by the medical pluralism that is pervasive in our study. Patients treated themselves, by multiplying therapies, by mixing traditions and modern medicine. There was notably a strong involvement of the entourage to provide care for the ill relative, through therapy management groups, within the community. A better take into account of these cultural particularities in primary care, by going beyond the medical field, may enable improve the migrant’s caring.