Acculturation in Canada : the use of traditional medicine among Ghanaians in the Greater Toronto Area

Abstract

This thesis examines Ghanaian immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area (Canada), considering how acculturation was related to attitudes and usage of Traditional Medicine (TM).  A total of 512 questionnaire interviews were conducted in addition to three focus groups of nine participants each.  Both quantitative and qualitative methods were and frequencies, percentages and simple chi-square were used to analyse the quantitative data while “content analysis” was used to analyse the qualitative data. Five mains hypotheses were tested, that: 1) Ghanaians have a general positive attitude toward TM; 2) there is not significant relationship between Ghanaians who were born in Ghana and those who were born in Canada; 3) there will be a significant difference between Ghanaians who have lived longer in Canada and those who have lived shorter; 4) there will be no significant change in the attitudes and opinions of Ghanaians as a result of their staying in Canada; 5) there will be significant differences in attitude change toward TM between Ghanaians in terms of educational and income levels, age, gender and marital status. Ghanaians have positive attitudes toward TM, and they operate within a ‘Personalistic Medical System’.  There was no relationship between variation in attitude toward TM and sex, age, marital status and place of birth.  However, there was a relationship between change in attitude toward TM and level of income, educational, ethnic group, religion, and number of years in Canada. In terms of acculturation (more in line with ‘inculturation’), Ghanaians have been pursuing “integration” and “assimilation” . There is no evidence to suggest that traditional beliefs have been undermined to such an extent that there is a change in attitude toward TM.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo