The purpose of this study was to explore adult diabetics' eating styles and factors which influence them.

The study adopted an ethnographic method based on a perspective which views the eating style as a cultural phenomenon. Data was collected through a personal interview, participant observation, and documented materials from Oct.2001 to Sept. 2002. In this study, fifteen adult diabetics, with an average age of 57, participated. Data analysis was done by the Spradley's taxonomic analysis technique.

The patients' eating styles were rooted in their viewpoint on illness as well as the meaning of food. Eating styles were classified into 4 types: Pathology-centered, symptom-centered, need-centered, and role-centered.

A conventional approach to the treatment and management of diabetes did not consider the patient's inner world which may play an important role in the successful management of the disease. We found that it was critical for health care personnel to understand patients' values, beliefs and their way of life in order to facilitate the most successful self-care diet.

This ethnography is aimed at describing the care-giving practices of the nuclear family and relatives of the elderly within a clan village in relation to their socio-cultural context. Four basic notions of the study came from Leininger's culture care theory and the nurse-client negotiation model of Anderson. In order to understand the cultural system of caring, the following questions were explored: What caring behaviors are performed for the elderly person in a clan and how do these behavior relate to the various components of that particular culture?

Data for this study was gathered through twenty-one fieldwork expeditions between September 1994 and December 2002 using interviews and participant observation of 7 families drown from two extended families. Data was analyzed using the techniques of taxonomy, value, and proxemics analysis.

The socio-cultural context of caring for elderly people, their caring values, and four categories of caring were explored. Values of caring and every day life in the clan were hierarchical, reciprocal, and collective. The four categories of caring were: being with, empowering, keeping territory, and enhancing spirituality.

The results of this study can be used to understand culture-specific care and to provide culturally congruent care for the elderly in a clinical setting.

This ethnography was done to explore patterns of weight management behavior among adults using obesity clinics.

The participants were 12 adults who were overweight or obese and 2 family members. Data were collected from iterative fieldwork in the obesity clinics of two hospitals. Data were analyzed using text analysis and taxonomic methods.

Weight management behaviors among participants varied according to the recognition of the body and motivation for weight control, Participants' behavior was discussed in the socio-cultural context of obesity. Patterns of weight management behavior among participants were categorized by focus: strategic self-oriented type including managements for the body as a social asset and for health, selective neglect type, and passive group value-oriented type including type dependent on others and managements for beauty.

Participants' weight management behavior was guided by folk concepts of body and health. and constructed within the socio-cultural context. It is necessary for health care providers to understand physical and psychological problems arising from the repeated trials, excessive control of weight, and Western cultural discourse on beauty ideals among adults who are overweight or obese. Therefore, interventions should be tailored to address individual and community needs.

This ethnograpy was done to explore patterns of health care behavior in patients with chronic health problems.

The participants were 15 patients with chronic hepatitis B and 2 family members. Among the patients 4 had progressed to liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Data were collected from iterative fieldwork in a department of internal medicine of I hospital. Data were analyzed using text analysis and taxonomic methods.

Illness and disease, relationship between health care givers and clients, and communication patterns between health professions and clients were discussed as the context of health care behavior. Health care behavior of the participants was categorized by its focus: every day work centered, body centered, organ centered, and pathology centered.

Participants' health care behavior was guided by folk health concept and constructed in the sociocultural context. Folk etiology, pathology, and interpretation of one's symptoms were influencing factors in illness behavior. These findings must be a cornerstone of culture specific care for the chronic diseases.