Question 1

Surgical procedures are integral to which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A)  the biomedical model 
B)  cultural competency 
C)  illness narratives 
D)  alternative ethnomedical practices

Question 2

What was the focus of Khiara Bridges's research in the New York City women's health clinic? How did the composition of the patient population compare to that of the medical staff? What differences did she observe in the treatment that patients received? What did she conclude about the disparities in healthcare outcomes in the United States?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What was the focus of Khiara Bridges's...

Question 3

Increased migration has increased the popularity of Tibetan medicine in recent decades. How is this form of medicine viewed today by non-Tibetans?

Accepted Answer

A)  as holistic and embracing Tibetan ecological worldviews 
B)  as a way to cure the human microbiome 
C)  as a rejection of ethnomedicine 
D)  as a way to develop sound entrepreneurial practices in health care

Question 4

Which of the following statements accurately describes Chinese medicine?

Accepted Answer

A)  Researchers have identified a uniform set of Chinese medical practices used by practitioners within and outside China that complement biomedical treatments. 
B)  It was suppressed as "unscientific" after the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. 
C)  Chinese medicine rejected Western medicine in the early twentieth century as "inauthentic" and "un-Chinese." 
D)  Chinese medical practices vary widely within China, from patient to patient and also over time.

Question 5

What approach would a medical anthropologist take to understand why some middle-class American parents with health insurance do not vaccinate their children for measles, mumps, and rubella?

Accepted Answer

A)  critical medical anthropology 
B)  epidemiology 
C)  the interpretivist approach 
D)  medical ecology

Question 6

The study of ethnopharmacology emerged from efforts to:

Accepted Answer

A)  understand the practices of large, international pharmacology companies. 
B)  determine the role of herbal supplements in the dietary intake of Americans. 
C)  document the local use of natural substances in healing remedies and practices. 
D)  compare systems of health and healing.

Question 7

What are illness narratives?

Accepted Answer

A)  stories based on a physician's assessment of an illness 
B)  the personal stories that people tell to explain their illness 
C)  ethnographic studies of disease and illness 
D)  narratives provided by anthropologists to physicians

Question 8

Which analytical perspective would a medical anthropologist use to explore how economic and political systems, race, class, gender, and sexuality create and perpetuate unequal access to health care?

Accepted Answer

A)  critical medical anthropology 
B)  epidemiology 
C)  the interpretivist approach 
D)  medical ecology

Question 9

A Shipibo shaman uses Ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic drink brewed from roots and leaves found in the rainforest, to treat spiritual and psychological maladies. Researchers interested in studying its effectiveness are studying:

Accepted Answer

A)  ethnomedicine. 
B)  the human microbiome. 
C)  ethnopharmacology. 
D)  epidemiology.

Question 10

What does the study of ethnomedicine focus on?

Accepted Answer

A)  the role of hospitals and doctors in the health-care system 
B)  the study of religious ritual in health care 
C)  the local use of natural substances in healing remedies and practices 
D)  the comparative study of local systems of health and healing

Question 11

Anthropologist Arthur Kleinman's work involves collecting cross-cultural illness narratives. Where can such narratives be vital in the treatment of illness and promotion of good health?

Accepted Answer

A)  in spreading Western medicine 
B)  in non-Western cultures 
C)  in the use of herbal medicines 
D)  in providing health care across cultural divides

Question 12

Geoffrey hoarsely calls his boss and describes his phlegm and high fever. Geoffrey stays home and briefly considers going to the movies, but decides not to in case someone from work sees him. The role Geoffrey has taken on is an example of:

Accepted Answer

A)  disease. 
B)  illness. 
C)  sickness. 
D)  medical anthropology.

Question 13

Why is the case of Lia Lee significant for medical anthropologists?

Accepted Answer

A)  Her parents were eventually able to bridge the gap between their own medical prognosis and that of Lia's doctors. 
B)  Her doctors were ultimately able to successfully construct her parent's illness narrative. 
C)  The clash between the family's beliefs and that of the physicians was a clear instance of medical pluralism. 
D)  The entire event provided a window into the application of non-Western medicine that is difficult to document in the field.

Question 14

Overall human life expectancy increased from 31 years in 1900 to what in 2015?

Accepted Answer

A)  67.2 years 
B)  70.5 years 
C)  78.9 years 
D)  83.6 years

Question 15

Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, studied the Hmong immigrant population in the United States. What does her work suggest is one of the biggest challenges faced by this population?

Accepted Answer

A)  a lack of English language knowledge 
B)  a shortage of Hmong physicians available to them in U.S. hospitals 
C)  the absence of housing that permits extended families to live together under one roof 
D)  a lack of monetary resources to pay for medical care

Question 16

According to the United Nations, in 2015, which country had the highest life expectancy at birth?

Accepted Answer

A)  Hong Kong 
B)  United States 
C)  Mexico 
D)  Iceland

Question 17

Anthropologists have recognized that Western biomedicine draws heavily on:

Accepted Answer

A)  universally held values 
B)  the experience of the doctor in a foreign country 
C)  Enlightenment values of rationality, individualism, and progress 
D)  the willingness of the doctor to practice alternative medicine

Question 18

A Dutch woman's attitude toward childbirth:

Accepted Answer

A)  reinforces the values of hard work, endurance, and tolerance of difficulty. 
B)  sees it as a natural process. 
C)  views it as personal and fulfilling accomplishment. 
D)  is filled with anxiety and she often cries out in distress.

Question 19

When studying the health care provided at Alpha Hospital in New York City, anthropologist Khiara Bridges documented health-care professionals referring to black women as "primitive" and stating that black women were better able to withstand pain than white women. Where did these attitudes originate?

Accepted Answer

A)  an oral tradition within the medical profession featuring stories and folklore about black women's bodies 
B)  the formal education health-care professionals received 
C)  conflicts between physicians of color and white patients 
D)  information that was the result of Medicaid policies and directives

Question 20

Travelling to Tijuana to buy high blood pressure medicine, making a pilgrimage to visit a saint's shrine for healing, and going to the rainforest to participate in a ritual guided by a Shaman are all examples of:

Accepted Answer

A)  medical migration. 
B)  biomedicine. 
C)  the movement of germs and disease. 
D)  the globalization of biomedicine.

Exam 14: Health, Illness, and the Body