Title: Naturalistic explanation
Course: Health Education, Advocacy and Community Mobilisation Part 1 - Ethiopia (Full)

Naturalistic explanation

A naturalistic explanation assumes that illness is due to impersonal, mechanistic causes that can be potentially understood and cured by the application of the scientific method. Examples include that too little food will certainly be an organic cause for malnutrition or if people do not eat sufficient of the right types of food they will definitely become malnourished.

Health professionals usually attribute the cause of most illnesses to naturalistic explanations. When people perceive that the cause of their illness can be explained scientifically they are likely to seek modern medical treatment to cure their illness.