Health seeking behaviors of women living with obstetric fistula in Zimbabwe: A qualitative cross sectional study

Background: Socioeconomic factors are known to affect health quality, disease occurrence as well as health-seeking behaviors in several ways.Objectives: To determine the influence of socio-economic factors on awareness of cancer, healthseeking behaviors among parents of children with cancer in a developing country and occurrence of cancer using Burkitt lymphoma as index malignancy.Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study that involved children with cancer seen over a 2-year period in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. Information was obtained by interview through administration of a questionnaire and retrieval of clinical data from patients’ case notes.Results: The caregivers of 91 children (46 boys, 45 girls) were interviewed including 86 biological parents. Majority (84.6%) of the children belonged to the low socio -economic classes 3-5; 45 of 86 parents (52.3%), more likely in parents from higher socioeconomic classes, were aware of cancer but only 7 (8.1%) knew it could occur in children. There was no association between Burkitt lymphoma and socio-economic class. Twenty-eight (30.8%) parents of the 91 children visited alternate sources of health care, most commonly traditional healers, followed by religious centers. There was no association between visits to such centers and the parents’ socio-economic status or with presentation with metastatic disease.Conclusions: Awareness of childhood cancer is low among this cohort of parents; their socioeconomic status seems to impact on this level of awareness but not on their health-seeking behaviors for their affected children. Focused health education is needed to increase childhood cancer awareness and appropriate healthseeking behavior among the population studied.Key words: socio-economic; childhood; cancer; health-seeking; behaviour; awareness

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Maternal Decision-Making Input and Health-Seeking Behaviors Between Pregnancy and the Child’s Second Birthday: A Cross-Sectional Study in Nepal

Maternal and Child Health Journal ◽

10.1007/s10995-020-02961-z ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 24 (9) ◽

pp. 1121-1129

Author(s):

Zhongjie Zhang ◽

Kenda Cunningham ◽

Ramesh Prasad Adhikari ◽

Subash Yogi ◽

Shraddha Manandhar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Health Seeking ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Health Seeking Behaviors

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Health-Seeking Behaviors and its Determinants: A Facility-Based Cross-Sectional Study in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

International Journal of Health Policy and Management ◽

10.15171/ijhpm.2019.106 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Gulifeiya Abuduxike ◽

Özen Aşut ◽

Songül Acar Vaizoğlu ◽

Sanda Cali

Keyword(s):

Health Services ◽

Healthcare Services ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Health Problems ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Health Seeking ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Public And Private ◽

Health Seeking Behaviors ◽

Northern Cyprus

Background: Understanding health-seeking behaviors and determining factors help governments to adequately allocate and manage existing health resources. The aim of the study was to examine the health-seeking behaviors of people in using public and private health facilities and to assess the factors that influence healthcare utilization in Northern Cyprus. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2 polyclinics among 507 people using a structured intervieweradministered questionnaire. Health-seeking behaviors were measured using four indicators including routine medical check-ups, preferences of healthcare facilities, admission while having health problems, and refusal of health services while ill. Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression analyses were done to explore factors influencing the use of health services. Results: About 77.3% of the participants reported to have visited health centers while they had any health problems. More than half (51.7%) of them had a routine medical check-up during the previous year, while 12.2% of them had refused to seek healthcare when they felt ill during the last five years. Of all, 39.1% of them reported preferring private health services. Current smokers (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=1.92, 95% CI: 1.17-3.14), having chronic diseases (AOR=2.05, 95% CI: 1.95-2.16), having poor perceptions on health (AOR=2.33; 95% CI: 1.563.48), and spending less on health during the last three months (AOR=2.08, 95% CI: 1.43- 3.01) had about twice the odds of having routine checkups. Higher education (AOR=1.87, 95% CI: 1.38-2.55) was shown to be a positive predictor for the health-seeking behaviors, whereas having self-care problems (AOR=0.18, 95% CI: 0.08-0.40) and having a moderate-income (AOR=0.68, 95% CI: 0.57-0.81) were inversely associated with seeking healthcare. Conclusion: The utilization of public and private health sectors revealed evident disparities in the socio-economic characteristics of participants. The health-seeking behaviors were determined by need factors including chronic disease status and having poor health perception and also by enabling factors such as education, income, insurance status and ability to pay by oneself. These findings highlight the need for further nationwide studies and provide evidence for specific strategies to reduce the socioeconomic inequalities in the use of healthcare services.

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Prevalence, risk factors, and health seeking behavior for knee osteoarthritis among adult population in rural Jammu – A Community based Cross Sectional Study

Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care ◽

10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_643_20 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (10) ◽

pp. 5282

Author(s):

Bhavna Sahni ◽

Kiran Bala ◽

Shalli Bavoria ◽

Preeti Bhagat ◽

Sahil Langeh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Knee Osteoarthritis ◽

Adult Population ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Health Seeking ◽

Community Based ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Health Seeking Behavior ◽

Seeking Behavior

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Predictors of Health Seeking Behaviours for Common Childhood Illnesses in Poor Resource Settings in Zambia, A Community Cross Sectional Study

Frontiers in Public Health ◽

10.3389/fpubh.2021.569569 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Golden Apuleni ◽

Choolwe Jacobs ◽

Patrick Musonda

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Marital Status ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Education Level ◽

Child Health Services ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Health Seeking ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Seek Health Care ◽

Childhood Illnesses

Background: Developing countries, including Zambia, account for larger share of child morbidities and mortalities due to common childhood illnesses. Studies on wider determinants of behaviour pertaining to treatment seeking for childhood febrile illnesses in poor resource settings are limited. This study investigated health seeking behaviours of mothers in poor resource settings of Zambia and identified associated factors.Methods: Secondary data from a community cross sectional study design from the Health for the Poorest Population (HPP) Project was analysed between March and May 2019. Data was collected between May and August, 2013. It was collected by means of administering a structured questionnaire from the mothers of under-five children. The survey took place in Samfya and Chiengi of Luapula province while in Northern Province, Luwingu and Mungwi were settled for. A total of 1 653 mothers of under 5 years who had an episode of diarrhoea, malaria, pneumonia or a combination of any of them not more than 14 days before the interview were included in the study. A sample size was arrived at using A Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) method. In order to determine the associations between respondent's demographic characteristics and health seeking behaviour, chi square test of independence was carried out. Multivariable logistic regression was also done to identify predictors of health seeking behaviours for common childhood illnesses in children aged <5 years old in poor resource settings.Results: Among the mothers interviewed, 64.6% were married while 35.4% were unmarried. Their mean age was 32 years. Mothers who took their sick children to the health facilities for the purpose of seeking health care for their child for either of the illnesses accounted for 75.2%, [95% CI: 0.62–0.96], while 24.8% did not seek health care for their sick child. Factors typically associated with health seeking behaviours were mothers' marital status [aOR = 0.74; 95% CI: 0.58–0.94], and mothers ‘education level [aOR = 1.47; 95% CI: 1.13–1.92].Conclusion: It was established in this study that health care seeking behaviours for these common childhood illnesses in poor resource settings was relatively high and could be predicted by mother's education level and mothers' marital status. Integrating interventions targeted at increasing utilisation of maternal and child health services with basic education to women and moral support counselling to families may potentially maximise health seeking behaviours in marginalised communities.

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