The use of alternate health resources in a South Texas town

An alternate Anglo-American health care system's coexistence with a substantial, allopathic medical system is explored. A small South Texas town of twenty thousand, with an ethnic breakdown of 90% Mexican-American and 10%, Anglo-American, was chosen. A sample of thirty women and their families was interviewed and monitored over a four-month period. Their perceptions of health and usage patterns of the available medical and alternate health care systems are analyzed. A number of factors were isolated which included: life experiences, perceptions of illness, and the perceptions of Mexican-American usage patterns of medical facilities.