Women’s health seeking behavior for pelvic floor disorders and its associated factors in eastern Ethiopia

Background: COVID-19 brought significant challenges to public health. It changed the view of global health and safety, trust in the healthcare system, and clients’ willingness to seek healthcare. To contain the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and its detrimental effects, understanding peoples’ health behavior, especially healthcare-seeking, and determining the community risk perception is very important. Thus, this study aimed to determine the health-seeking behavior, community’s risk perception to COVID-19 pandemics, and factors influencing the community risk perception in Harari regional state, Ethiopia. Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 5 to 30 February 2021. A total of 1320 adult (>18 years) participants were selected using systematic random sampling. The data were collected using an online kobo collect toolbox and analyzed using descriptive statistical tests. Chi-square test and multiple binary logistic regression were applied to examine the difference between variables. A p-value < 0.05 was considered to be of statistical significance. Results: The study included 1296 respondents >18 years old. The overall prevalence of willingness to seek healthcare in the study area was 35.6% (95% CI: 33%–38.3.0%). The mean cumulative score of risk perception was 30.5 (SD ± 7.25) with the minimum and maximum score of 13 and 63, respectively. A total of 656 (50.6%) of the participants had low-risk perceptions concerning COVID-19. The study found a statistically significant association between risk perception and sociodemographic characteristics (age, educational status, and income), and knowledge of the respondents. Conclusion: The overall prevalence of willingness to seek healthcare was 35.6%. Healthcare intervention aimed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic should consider the factors associated with the study area. Similarly, the study found a low-risk perception among the community that needs critical action to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and to protect the community as a whole. Thus, it is necessary to improve community risk perception through health education.

Download Full-text

Health-seeking behavior and associated factors among community in Southern Ethiopia:Community based cross-sectional study guided by Health belief model

10.1101/388769 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Likawunt Samuel Asfaw ◽

Samuel Yohannes Ayanto ◽

Yitagessu Habtu Aweke

Keyword(s):

Health Service Utilization ◽

Associated Factors ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Health Seeking ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Health Seeking Behavior ◽

Seeking Behavior ◽

The Mean ◽

Study Participants

AbstractBackgroundHealth-seeking behavior is a sequence of actions taken to promote health and prevent disease. Governments’ expenditure to health is being improved in Ethiopia. In contrast, high disease burden and low health service utilization is observed. The low health service utilization could be due to low health-seeking behavior of the community. Thus, this studywas aimed to determine the level of health-seeking behavior and associated factors in Hosanna town, Southern Ethiopia.MethodsWe used communitybased cross-sectional study design among community (n= 443) in Hosanna town. The overall health-seeking behavior of study participants was assessed using the mean score of each of the dimensions (health promotion and disease prevention activities) as a cut-off value. Having a score above the mean on each of the target dimensions was equated with having a high level of health seeking behaviour. STATA 12 soft-ware package (Stata Corporation, College Station, Texas, 77845, USA)was used for descriptive and logistic regression analysis.ResultsAbout eighty five percent of (85.4%) participants had low level of health-seeking behavior. Males were about two folds more likely to have low level of health-seeking behavior than females (AOR: 1.8; CI 1.03–3.42). Widowed participants were about five times more likely to have low health-seeking behavior (AOR: 4.8; CI 2.1–17.1) when compared to married participants. Those participants who are illiterate were about five times more likely to have low health-seeking behavior than who completed higher education (AOR: 4.5; CI 1.16–17.8).ConclusionThe study revealed low health-seeking behavior among the study participants in the study area. This finding suggested the need forurgent interventions to the health literacy packages of Ethiopia to enhance the health seeking behavior of the country.

Download Full-text