Caring for the Low German Mennonites

What happens when health care providers meet patients whose religious views contrast with mainstream health practices? This book focuses on a unique religious group, the Low German Mennonites, to examine ways in which beliefs and practices influence members’ interactions with the health care system. Drawing on nearly twenty years of research, Judith Kulig presents a meticulous account and vivid illustration of the influence of religion on a community’s conceptions of health and illness, women’s health, death and dying, and mental health. She argues that health care providers must acknowledge and respectfully inquire about a patient’s beliefs in order to implement care and treatment. Kulig shows that trust and understanding are key to providing appropriate and equitable health care.

The data presented in the book provide an in-depth perspective of the importance of healthcare concerns and indicate community openness to improving access and delivery. It is encouraging that these groups by and large are sufficiently aware of and trusting to seek out the best care when available. Science and medicine are appreciated for their values in improving life., Dr. Judith King is a well-known rural health researcher who has spent twenty years of her academic career studying Low German Mennonites...She adeptly portrays the complexity of this group.

Judith C. Kulig, RN, BScN, MScN, PhD, is a professor emerita in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Lethbridge. She has devoted her research to nursing practice in rural and remote Canada and has spent nearly twenty years working among the Low German Mennonites in both Canada and Mexico. She has worked as a practising nurse in crosscultural contexts (with First Nations groups and Cambodian and Central American refugees). She has published widely in multi‐disciplinary journals and co‐edited, with Allison Williams, Health in Rural Canada (2011). She has presented as a keynote speaker in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and is the past chair of the Canadian Rural Health Research Society, of which she was one of the founding members.