Health promotion and preventive measures: Interpreting messages at midlife

In this article, the authors provide important insight into the cultural me ssages that midlife women receive about preventive health care. Data were c ollected from 24 rural women as part of an ongoing project on midlife women 's health. Kleinman's model of the popular and professional health care sec tors was used to examine the data. There is clear evidence of clashes betwe en the orientations and expectations of these sectors. Women's experiences reveal some consistent themes that contextualize their preventive health pu rsuits: time constraints, claims for expert knowledge, salience of family h istory, and the inclusion of nonallopathic resources as part of the profess ional realm. At the macrolevel, messages regarding women's responsibility f or their health ave ubiquitous. At the microlevel, women must negotiate amo ng competing messages and resources and a health care system that often con founds their efforts. These contradictions must be addressed before there a re long-term effects on the health of midlife women.