[Health care at home setting: social interaction and daily life].

OBJECTIVE To explore the boundaries and agents which make up women's knowledge about health care. METHODS A qualitative study was carried out in 4 regions in Mexico. Forty middle-aged women (between 35 and 65 years old) were interviewed and their responses analyzed. RESULTS The findings of this study point out to the relationship of women and their different social interactions with their health care practice. Among these interactions are: the contact with health services (which shapes the way women take care of their own health and their family); mass media (particularly television); use of medicines; traditional healers; knowledge acquired from their grandparents, mothers, and peers; and women's own experience while taking care of their family. Health care at home setting is a mixture of traditional healing practices and the conventional medical practices disseminated among the population. CONCLUSION The different social interactions in which women are involved make up the way Mexican women take care of their own health and their family.