Social representations about disease and coping strategies: cross-cultural analysis

Abstract

Cross-cultural comparison of the social representations of the disease shows that there are invariants: the kernel-basis of representations is the category of pain, and the contents of the peripheries form the categories related to depressive emotional state. The differences are that for the respondents of Tashkent this is characterized by the use in the kernel of representations the categories related to tangible aspects of the disease and its acceptance as an aspect of fate. The Moscow-based respondents generally use the categories that reflect the position of the active control of disease, at the same time the periphery of representations form concepts related to disturbing emotional state. Cultural invariants of coping strategies with the disease as a difficult life situation are common more with the patients than with the relatives that take care about the patients, and are in preference to passive and emotional coping strategies. The Tashkent sample is distinguished by the predominance of search of social support, and the Moscow – by the strategies of self-control that reflects the characteristics of collectivist and individualistic cultures.