[Greenlanders' attitudes towards health and disease. A comparative interview study of patients' and therapists' attitude to disease and health].

In four hospitals in Greenland, 50 Greenlandic patients and their Danish therapists (18 doctors, 26 nurses and six other staff) have been interviewed about their perceptions of disease and treatment and experiences of health in general. The Greenlandic patients' experiences of health were different and sometimes more articulate than those of their Danish therapists. Most of the Greenlandic patients expressed a trusting relationship towards the therapists, but most of the Danish professionals experienced that attitude as being authoritarian and dependent. It does not seem to be necessary in order to achieve a good treatment result that the patients and their therapists speak the same language and share the same concepts of health and disease. In those cases where the foreign health service's offers of treatment can be contained, and are not experienced as a threat to culturally related concepts of disease, the consultation presumably results in the best patient satisfaction.