Tenth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

In Ecuador, a total of 1,018,176 people are indigenous and belong to one of fourteen nationalities. They often live in poor and disadvantaged rural and urban areas in Ecuador. Furthermore, these populations have limited access to health professionals and basic health facilities. These conditions expose the indigenous child population to high rates of infectious diseases and malnutrition. In this study, we focus on fever as a general symptom. We aim to develop skills for the management of children with fever in healers of rural indigenous areas from southern Ecuador. Participatory action research (PAR) was developed in this project. PAR has two primary purposes: to implement change and generate theory. The participants were 110 healers from southern Ecuador. The duration of the study was three years. Results PAR focused on 4 phases: 1) observation: 11 focus groups and 10 interviews were conducted with healers to meet the needs of communities in the research subject. From the results obtained, the 2) planning phase was developed, in which through culturally reflective peer group sessions (researchers and healers), culturally adapted flowcharts were constructed. In phase 3) action, the healers were trained in children with fever management. Finally, phase 4) evaluation, it was observed that 63% of healers had implemented flowcharts in their patient contacts. This study suggests that we could design a training program that meets the needs of traditional healers. Moreover, we supported intercultural skills in both healers and health personnel to create an atmosphere of respect, equity, and understanding.