Cultural health practices of South African Vatsonga people on the home care of children with measles.

The purpose of this research study was to identify the cultural health practices of the Vatsonga in relation to the home care of children with measles. It was undertaken in the Giyani District of the Limpopo Province, in the Republic of South Africa. The qualitative, explorative and contextual design was used to conduct this project. Data was collected from nine key informants and nineteen general informants. Data was collected using individual interviews with key-informants and focus group interviews with general informants. Observations were also made. The findings revealed that the Vatsonga still provide home care for children with measles. Those who care for the sick children are women--either the mother of the sick child or an elderly woman with knowledge of the disease. There are different cultural practices that the Vatsonga observe when there is a child suffering from measles. These include isolation of the child, restriction of sexual intercourse, giving of a milk diet to the sick child and performance of a cultural ceremony at the resolution of the disease. Similarities and differences between hospital and home-based care were identified. Recommendations were made using Leininger's three modes of decision making as explained in the Sunrise Model, which include the following: cultural care preservation of maintenance; cultural care accommodation or negotiation; cultural care repatterning or restructuring.