Aproximación a la concepción de salud mental de los yachakkuna del Consejo de Sanadores de Saraguro, Loja, en el periodo 2022

Abstract

Within the framework of collective rights dictated by the Constitution of Ecuador and with the Model of Comprehensive Family, Collective and Intercultural Health Care (MAIS-FCI), the people of Ecuador urge the State to mainstream the intercultural approach to public health policy, including mental health. This research describes how the yachakkuna of the Saraguro Healing Council of Loja understand mental health, for which a qualitative phenomenological study was carried out through semi-structured interviews with eight yachakkuna belonging to the Council and one that belongs to the academy, between the ages of 30 and 85, by means of a sampling for convenience; passive observation of their clinical practice in five consultations, and participant observation in Inti Raymi, an important ritual of the community that reflects its worldview. The information from the observations, both passive and participant, was recorded in a field diary and on observation sheets. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and their analysis was carried out with tools of the Grounded Theory, such as open and axial coding, with the help of the Atlas Ti 8.5® software. An agreement on the use of ancestral knowledge was agreed upon and signed to protect the collective intellectual property rights of the Saraguro People. Mental health was found to be a concept introduced by the Western biomedical model, as in the case of the indigenous peoples of Colombia. This concept is understood by the community as the balance of the five bodies: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and energetic. It was concluded that the Yachakkuna of the Saraguro Healing Council understand mental health in a holistic, comprehensive and collective manner. Although intercultural health is a reality in Saraguro Health District 11D08, there are still challenges, both at the public policy level and at the social level.