Delays in seeking and receiving health care services for pneumonia in children under five in the Peruvian Amazon: a mixed-methods study on caregivers’ perceptions

Abstract

BackgroundDelays in receiving adequate care for children suffering from pneumonia can be life threatening and have been described associated with parents’ limited education and their difficulties in recognizing the severity of the illness. The “three delays” was a model originally proposed to describe the most common determinants of maternal mortality, but has been adapted to describe delays in the health seeking process for caregivers of children under five. This study aims to explore the caregivers’ perceived barriers for seeking and receiving health care services in children under five years old admitted to a referral hospital for community-acquired pneumonia in the Peruvian Amazon Region using the three-delays model framework.MethodsThere were two parts to this mixed-method, cross-sectional, hospital-based study. First, medical charts of 61 children (1 to 60 months old) admitted for pneumonia were reviewed, and clinical characteristics were noted. Second, to examine health care-seeking decisions and actions, as well as associated delays in the process of obtaining health care services, we interviewed 10 of the children’s caregivers.ResultsHalf of the children in our study were 9 months old or less. Main reasons for seeking care at the hospital were cough (93%) and fever (92%). Difficulty breathing and fast breathing were also reported in more than 60% of cases. In the interviews, caregivers reported delays of 1 to 14 days to go to the closest health facility. Factors perceived as causes for delays in deciding to seek care were apparent lack of skills to recognize signs and symptoms and of confidence in the health system, and practicing self-medication. No delays in reaching a health facility were reported. Once the caregivers reached a health facility, they perceived lack of competence of medical staff and inadequate treatment provided by the primary care physicians.ConclusionAccording to caregivers, the main delays to get health care services for pneumonia among young children were identified in the initial decision of caregivers to seek healthcare and in the health system to provide it. Specific interventions targeted to main barriers may be useful for reducing delays in providing appropriate health care for children with pneumonia.

Medical management of pneumonia in children aged under 5 years in Alexandria, Egypt: mothers’ perspective

“…It is not unexpected that mothers giving home treatment were more likely to delay seeking an 8 / 13 outside health provider. Our results were similar to the findings of Pajuelo et al and Källander et al in Peru and Uganda (21,25). The latter study indicated that giving treatment at home was a risk factor for the delay in seeking medical care for fatal pneumonia (25).…”

“…Reviewing medical management, there was a lack of recognition of pneumonic children by nearly half of the first consulted sources, although most of these were medical providers. In accordance to our finding, previous studies have shown that many developing countries still face significant challenges in the provision of effective health care in the diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia (21,32). The diagnostic challenge of childhood pneumonia lies in the broad range of presenting features.…”

“…It is worth noting that repeated pneumonia in a child was not uncommon in the present study. Similar findings have been reported in Bangladesh and Peru (18,21); this may be attributed to persistent exposure to environmental risk factors such as exposure to tobacco smoke (26,27), overcrowding (28) or indoor and outdoor pollution (29,30).…”

“…Reviewing health care-seeking timing, nearly one-quarter of the mothers reported a delay in seeking medical care. Previous studies have reported delay in the decision to seek care of 2 or 3 days (21,22). In the present study, the main claim for delay was mothers' insufficient knowledge about signs and symptoms of pneumonia.…”

Health Care Seeking Behavior among Caregivers of Sick Children Who Had Severe Malarial Anaemia

“…[9]Caregivers play a pivotal role in the provision and care for childhood diseases. Time of intervention and quality of care received depends on the actions of the caregiver and ultimately determines the outcome [10].…”