[Cultural domain of the causes of diabetes in three generations of popular stratum in Guadalajara, Mexico].

BACKGROUND:The growing prevalence of diabetes must be confronted in several ways. Establishing the generational transmission of cultural knowledge offers some guidelines to prevent and control the disease. Once we identify and compare the semantic structures of shared knowledge we lay the foundations of a culturally comprehensive care. The objective was to characterize the main elements about cultural domain of the causes of diabetes in a population of grandparents, parents and children belonging to popular strata in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. METHODS:A cognitive anthropological study performed in 104 subjects selected randomly in Guadalajara. We applied the free listing technique in order to obtain the semantic model and the average of cultural knowledge on the causes of the disease through a consensus analysis.A cognitive anthropological study performed in 104 subjects selected randomly in Guadalajara. We applied the free listing technique in order to obtain the semantic model and the average of cultural knowledge on the causes of the disease through a consensus analysis. RESULTS:The studied groups were divided by generation: grandparents, parents and children. The data evidences intergenerational transmission, in form of a basic semantic structure, and a significant consensus around a single model. CONCLUSIONS:The semantic structure on the causes of the diabetes includes: a) the emotions, as traditional dimension; b) certain behaviours related with the lifestyle, as everyday dimension; c) some biomedical concepts, like an emergent dimension.