ABSTRACT
The motivation for the research I conducted with Ethiopian immigrants and their doctors in Israel came from my early observations that many Ethiopian immigrants were expressing dissatisfaction with their medical treatment. while their doctors were feeling frustrated due to lack of understanding of the nature of their illnesses. I wanted to explore whether there really was a discrepancy between patients ' and doctors ' understandings of health and illness , and if so, to c larify the reasons behind it, with a view to bridging the gap in understanding. My intention to study illness among the Ethiopian immigrants was welcomed by clinicians, who hoped it would help them understand the Ethiopians more effectively, and by the immigrants, who hoped for improvements in their medical care . In this paper I shall show how stress and cultural disparities can explain some of the problems in the medical arena.
