Cultural Epistemologies and Their Influence on the Acceptance of Biomedical Health Education in Igbo Communities of South East Nigeria

The acceptance of biomedical health education messages in Nigeria is mediated by indigenous cultural epistemologies that shape how communities understand, interpret, and respond to health information. This study critically examined the influence of Igbo cultural epistemologies on the acceptance of biomedical health education across Igbo communities in South East Nigeria, encompassing Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia, and Ebonyi states. A decolonising qualitative methodology was employed, combining 44 in-depth interviews, 8 cultural group discussions, and interpretive document analysis of oral health traditions, community health archives, and ethnographic accounts. Data were analysed using critical discourse analysis and thematic narrative analysis. Findings revealed that Igbo metaphysical frameworks including beliefs in spiritual causation, ancestral health governance, and communal body ontology consistently mediated the reception of biomedical health education. Rather than representing barriers to health education, these epistemologies constituted alternative valid knowledge systems with which biomedical health messages frequently collided. Programmes that adopted dialogic, epistemologically inclusive approaches demonstrated greater community acceptance and behaviour change. The study contributes a postcolonial theoretical critique of biomedical health education practice and proposes an epistemologically pluralist model for community health education in Igbo communities. Keywords: cultural epistemologies, biomedical health education, Igbo communities, South East Nigeria, decolonising methodology