Factors Influencing the Use of Dhami Service among its Users at Kathmandu, Nepal

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##

Ira Sharma Deepak Uprety

Abstract

     Dhami service is a form of shamanic healing for the problems which they thought to be due to spiritual or super natural beings. In Nepal, majority of the people practice traditional medicine for health care. Globally, the use of alternative medicines, which still do not have scientific proof of being safe, is much common. Moreover, why people still have faith on them is not much clear yet. This study aims to identify the factors associated with use of dhami service in Kathmandu, Nepal. It is a descriptive, cross-sectional study carried out in Kathmandu Nepal in 2015. The primary information were collected with the help of structured questionnaires from the patients going to a dhami centre in 15 days period between 7 to 11 am. The study adopted census method and face to face interview of the patients was taken with the help of pretested questionnaire. The descriptive analysis was shown in frequency tables and charts. The Chi-square Statistics was used for bivariate analysis.
     More than half of the respondents often used dhami services. Four fifth of the users were  female. More than half of them were illiterate and belonged to age group 26-35. Majority (38.54%) of the users were from Tamang community with highest being Buddhists (58.33%), followed by Hindus (40.63%).  The use of dhami service was statistically associated (p-value<0.05) with age, education, religion and the type of disease, whereas, no such associations (p-value>0.05) were found with gender, ethnicity, perceived satisfaction, family income, communicable/ non communicable disease and accessibility to modern health services. Therefore, public awareness and health education is necessary to convince them for wider and safer use of scientific health care services.


Keywords: Dhami, Traditional medicine, Shamanic medicine, Nepal

References

Adegoke, T. G. (2007). Socio-cultural Factors Influencing the Use of Spiritual Healing Churches in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria. Anthropologist, 9(3), 225.

Adesiji, G. B., & Komolafe, S. E. (2013). Factors influencing the use of traditional healing in Kwara State, Nigeria. Albanian j. agric. sci., 2013, 275-281.

Bajaj, B. K., Chaudhary, S., & Shrestha, R. (2013). Etiological beliefs of patients with neurological disorders attending a tertiary care center: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 4(4), 383.

Biswas, A., See, D., Kogon, M. M., & Spiegel, D. (2000). Hypnotizability and the use of traditional dhami-jhankri healing in Nepal. Int J Clin Exp Hypn, 48(1), 6-21.

Cunha, C. A. (2004). A arte de curar nos tempos da colônia: limites e espaços da cura. Recife, PE: Fundação de Cultura do Recife.

Death by faith. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.letusreason.org/wf25.htm

Gewali, M. B. (2008). Aspects of Traditional Medicine in Nepal. Institute of Natural Medicine, University of Toyama.

Panday, S. (2012). Variation in type and consumption of traditional health care Practices in Kathmandu Metropolitan City. SAJMS, 1(1), 11-21.

Rajbhandari, K. C. (2003). Epilepsy in Nepal. Neurol J Southeast Asia, 8, 1-4.

Randi, J. (2011). The Faith Healers. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.

Raut, B., & Khanal, D. P. (2011). Present Status of Traditional Healthcare System in Nepal. IJRAP, 2(3), 876-882.

Shrestha, R. M., & Lediard, M. (1980). Faith Healers, A Force for Change. Kathmandu, Nepal: UNICEF.

Subba, N. (2004). Health Seeking Behavior of Rajbanshi Community in Katahari and Baijanathpur of Morang District, Nepal. Journal of Nepal Health Research Council, 2(2), 14-18.

Usborne, D. (2014). US ‘faith healers’ sent to prison for death of second sick child. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/WHO. (2013). WHO traditional medicine strategy: 2014-2023. WHO, Switzerland: Geneva 27.

Williamson, J., Ramirez, R., & Wingfield T. (2015). Health, Healthcare Access, and Use of Traditional Versus Modern Medicine in Remote Peruvian Amazon Communities: A Descriptive Study of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices. Am J Trop Med Hyg, 92(4), 857–864.

Keywords
Dhami, Traditional Medicine, Faith Healer
Section
Research Articles

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##

How to Cite
SHARMA, Ira; UPRETY, Deepak. Factors Influencing the Use of Dhami Service among its Users at Kathmandu, Nepal. Naresuan University Journal: Science and Technology (NUJST), [S.l.], v. 26, n. 2, p. 1-9, june 2018. ISSN 2539-553X. Available at: <https://www.journal.nu.ac.th/NUJST/article/view/1736>. Date accessed: 29 mar. 2024.