Meaning reconstruction of mentality among villagers toward using medications: a qualitative study

Medicine and Treatment is a commodity. Medicine consumption and visiting the specialist doctor is one of the issues in Iran that can be surveyed in medical sociology area. In recent years, Visiting the specialist doctor and medicine consumption are not just a medical issue, but they are is social and cultural issue that imposes considerable cost on treatment sector. This study aims to study the perception and interpretation of participants of visiting the specialist doctor and medicine consumption. In doing this study, qualitative methodology and ethnography, interview and observation method for collecting the data and grounded theory for final analyses has been used. The Finding includes five themes of changing in rural lifestyle, treatment process in village, rural culture in face of patient, communication culture in village and assessment and main theme in this study is general process of medicine and treatment consumption. The results have shown that medicine and treatment consumption in villages are cultural issues and they are affected by rural changing lifestyle and lack of clear path for treatment and correct consumption of medicine. Villagers assessing visiting the specialist doctor as kind of pride and they see it as respectfulness for patient. Changing the doctor sequentially by others advice and using the others experiences are very important for them and visiting the famous hospitals in mega-cities and even buying the foreign medicine causes pride. Then it can be said that this is a cultural and social problem that causes negative consequences for society.