Doctoral Dissertation:Model Reproductive Health and Behavior: Intracultural Variation Among the Tojolobal Maya

University Of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia MO

Investigators

Abstract

Focusing on modeling the relationship between belief and behavior, this proposal will explore the reproductive health beliefs of the Tojolobal Maya (Chiapas, Mexico). It addresses the central question: "Are Tojolabal expert and non-expert ethnomedical beliefs a coherent domain organized around a consensual folk theory, a set of relatable but different models, or a body of scattered and idiosyncratic ideas?" It will document patterned variation in health beliefs and will test whether or not cognitive variation is a predictor of actual treatment-seeking behavior.