Their Last Breath: Death and Dying in a Hmong American Community.

Hmong Americans have typically been unwilling to use biomedical palliative care for end-of-life needs. This has resulted in confusion and frustration for Hmong patients, families, and nurses. Hmongs' end-of-life care choices for family members usually involve in-home caregiving provided by the family using a combination of biomedicine and traditional healing methods. Health care decisions are made for the patient by the family and community in this familistic culture. A qualitative approach was used to explore the beliefs that ultimately determine end-of-life care goals and strategies for Hmong patients. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 family caregivers of terminally ill patients and 5 shamans and Hmong funeral officiants. Several themes affecting care choices were identified, including cultural legacies of the responsibility of end-of-life caregiving by the family, the desire for family privacy in caregiving, and the role of community in the care for the dying, as well as completion of the rituals that ensure the soul of the deceased reaches the afterlife. Suggestions for improving communication between Hmongs and biomedical providers include providing information about end-of-life care beliefs and strategies to biomedical care providers and providing information to Hmong patients and families about hospice and palliative care options and services to support family care.

Paper Spirits and Flower Sacrifices: Hmong Shamans in the 21st Century.

INTRODUCTION: Fresno, California, is home to more than 30,000 Hmong. The purpose of this research was to explore the utilization of Hmong shamans 40 years after the first Hmong immigrants arrived in the United States. Hmong shamanism is examined to identify and analyze changes to shamans' practices or patients. METHODS: Using grounded theory, semistructured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 20 shamans in their homes. Transcribed data were qualitatively analyzed. RESULTS: Shamans continue to train and practice in this community; utilization by older patients persists while young adult patients have become the fastest-growing group of users. Healing rituals have changed in response to the legalities of animal sacrifice in urban areas and the time demands of work schedules. DISCUSSION: Nurses' awareness that the availability of biomedicine does not preclude the continuing or recurring utilization of traditional healers can facilitate understanding of culturally defined health care needs.

Chronic illness and Hmong shamans.

Among the challenges health care personnel in California's central valley face has been finding ways to help Hmong Americans manage chronic illness. Interviews were conducted with 11 Hmong shamans diagnosed with diabetes or hypertension and were qualitatively analyzed to ascertain respondents' understanding and management of their illnesses. Hmong shamans are influential individuals within their communities and are often the resource persons to whom patients turn for information on health. Understanding the shamans' perspective on chronic illness was seen as a gateway to understanding how the broader Hmong American community perceived these conditions. The concept of chronic illness was not well understood, resulting in sporadic medication and dietary regimens, limited awareness of potential complications, and a persistent impression that these illnesses could be cured rather than managed. Suggestions for patient educators include family and community involvement in care regimens and the use of descriptive terminology to identify the disease.

Shamans in a Hmong American community.

OBJECTIVE: To increase understanding of the process and meanings of shamanic care from patient complaint through diagnosis, treatment, and outcome. DESIGN: Information collected from 924 patient contact forms completed by 36 shamans over an 18-month period included basic demographic information on the patients, their complaints, treatments suggested by the shamans and the shamans' perceptions of the outcomes of treatment. These data were translated and entered into a computer database. LOCATION: A Hmong American community in California's Central Valley. METHODS: Quantitative descriptions of the sample were generated and integrated with qualitative analysis of the content of the text from the diagnostic, treatment and outcome categories was performed to systematically identify patterns in the data. RESULTS: Patients sought shamanic help for an array of physical, emotional, and psychologic complaints--problems that the shamans frequently diagnosed as being caused by soul loss or bad spirits. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest the persistence of the need for the spiritual healing provided by the shamans within this immigrant community. Shamans' rituals affirmed and strengthened connections to family, culture, and community.

Afterbirths in the afterlife: cultural meaning of placental disposal in a Hmong American community.

Interviews were conducted with 94 Hmong Americans in California's Central Valley to explore attitudes regarding placental disposition and the cultural values that affect those attitudes. Research indicated a persistence of the traditional belief that placentas should be buried at home. The placenta is perceived to be essential for travel by the soul of the deceased into the spirit world to rejoin ancestors. Older respondents (older than age 35) and those who self-identified as animists were most likely to believe in the importance of home placental burial. Comments by respondents indicated some reluctance on the part of Hmong patients to ask health care providers for permission to take placentas home. Incorporating non-Western patients' traditional health care practices into Western health care delivery may be facilitated by an awareness of the reluctance of some patients to verbalize their wishes.