Evaluating Treatment-Seeking Behavior and the Related Factors Among the Dwellers of Safashahr City

Abstract

Objective: The present study aims to recognize and evaluate treatment-seeking behavior and the related factors among the dwellers of Safashahr city. Methods:The current applied research is cross-sectional with a population size of 380 and executed in a systematic random sampling among the dwellers of Safashahr city and the villages governed by it. SPSS version 22 has been utilized for analyzing the data in this study. T-test, Chi-square variance analysis, Pearson test, and Spearman test have been used to evaluate the significance and the relationship between the understudy variables with the treatment-seeking variables.Results: 75% of participants in the study have reported being diagnosed with illness in the past 6 months. Visiting family physician was ranked highest with an average 3.36 followed by public hospitals with an average of 3.05. However, they chose to go to clinic centers with an average of 2.1. Self-medication has been reported for an average of 2.6% and 88.2% of the participants in this study have preferred to ignore the medium and less than medium treatment. In this study, a significant relationship has been found between age, number of family members, living location, salary, habitation status, and type of insurance with at least one of the search-for-treatment (p<0.05). Conclusion:Taking into account the findings of the research, lifting the society's awareness about the consequences of self-medication and ignorance toward treatment, continuing and executing the urban family physician in other areas, implementation of measures for limiting access to unprescribed medications, increasing satisfaction, and trust toward public sector and provision and allocation of health resources across cities are recommended as appropriate solutions to improving the pattern of using health services.

Factors Influencing Health-Seeking Behavior Among Sudanese Expatriates in Saudi Arabia, 2023. A Cross-Sectional Study

“…This positive association was similarly described in a study in Senegal that found an increase in the odds of seeking healthcare among people older than 40 years, (28) contradicting the ndings of another study conducted in Iran that revealed an inverse relationship between age and appropriate HSB, where older people were less likely to seek healthcare. (10) Monthly Income…”

“…Studies suggest that there is a positive relationship between the availability and quality of health services and their utilization, i.e., healthseeking behavior(6-9) nevertheless, some inequalities in access to these services have been observed, indicating that patients from lower social and economic positions, as well as certain nationalities and minority groups, bene t less from these advantages. (10) According to recent International Organization of Migration (IOM) estimations, there were approximately 281 million international migrants worldwide in 2020 (11) whose lives were in uenced by social factors in their home countries and who were confronted with new social, economic, and political conditions in the nations where they migrated. In particular, labor migration has been linked to high stress levels, poor working conditions, and poor psychological and physical health.…”