| The purpose of this study was three-fold: (1) describe the placing of blame for disease as seen in accounts of disease through Western history from the Middle Ages to the late twentieth century, (2) describe how the blame-placing correlates to theories of disease in the Western medical model, (3) and apply the Feminist model of science to curricula in health education to alleviate the placing of blame.;Two categories of blame were described in the study: disease attributed to others (immigrants, other races, lifestyles) and disease blamed on sexuality (behaviors and orientation). The diseases described include cholera, influenza, leprosy, syphilis, and yellow fever. The study was conducted as descriptive historical research. Primary and secondary sources from libraries and the Kansas State Historical Society were examined.;The research described many similarities across Western history in the placing of blame for disease on others and sexuality. By deconstructing the Western medical model, it was shown that mechanistic theories from medicine influence non-medical persons in their constructions of beliefs about disease: especially the belief that disease is a discrete entity that may be banished or abandoned. The Feminist model of science, which defines disease as a natural element of the human/environmental organism, was described. The research described how the use of the Feminist model of science as a framework in place of the Western medical model would enhance and strengthen health education curricula in its approach to understanding health beliefs about wellness and disease and how these beliefs affect culture. |
