Health seeking behaviour and its determinants among rural population- a cross sectional study in South India

Abstract

Despite improvements in access to health care in India, inequalities related to socioeconomic status, geography and gender continue to exist. This is further compounded ABSTRACT Background: Remedial action that a person takes to treat his or her perceived illnesses, is called health-seeking behaviour. Understanding health seeking behaviour (HSB) in a community and the factors which influence their decision, are crucial for planning a "need based" comprehensive health care programmes for the people, especially for underprovided and rural population. The objective of present study was to determine HSB and its determinants in a defined rural population. Methods: A community based cross -sectional study was conducted in rural field practice area of A. J. Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Mangalore (Karnataka) from 1st October 2017 to 31st July 2018. A total of 866 heads of households were included in the study, using universal sampling method. A pre-tested, validated questionnaire was used to collect the data. p values of <0.05 were considered significant. Results: Among 866 participants, almost all (98.03%) heads of families were males, while majority of them (35.68 %) were farmers. Further, majority (48.15%) of the households preferred to visit government hospitals for their ailments, while among those visiting private practitioners, majority of them (55.54%) preferred Allopath system of medicine. Health insurance subscription rates were found to be low (18.93%). Main determinants of HSB were observed to be cost of treatment, convenience of approach, quality of services and life threatening emergencies. Conclusions: Present study brings out higher utilization of government health care facilities among the study subjects, while cost of treatment and life threatening emergencies were the main predictors of HSB.

Health seeking behaviour during COVID-19 pandemic among general population in urban areas of Chengalpattu District

“…The present study showed that the participants preferred private hospitals over government hospitals which is similar to a study conducted by Dominic ARet al 1224 4 .In contradictory to the studies conducted by Kumar et al and Kumar Det al where the preferred type of health care preferred was Government health facilities. 5,6 This may be due the easy accessibility and feasibility of the private hospital when compared to government settings.…”

Assessment of health seeking behaviour among fishermen community in Puducherry

“…A study conducted by Ramana et al in urban slum of Vishakhapatnam city concluded that private sectors are preferred as a choice by the community people due to various reasons like easy availability, speciality clinics and quality care for acute and chronic illness, particularly by those who don't have financial constraints. 10 In the present study, most of the study participants reported to visit the public and private health facilities for cold/fever 30.4% and musculoskeletal problems/ osteoarthritis 19.6%. Other common morbid conditions for healthcare visit are respiratory problems, injuries/accidents and other communicable diseases.…”

Analysis of Health Ailments and Associated Risk Factors in Small-Scale Fisherfolk Community of Indian Sundarbans: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…[ 41 ] A study conducted in Southern India showed that the majority of families (48.15%) preferred to visit government hospitals, whereas the majority of those who visited private doctors (55.54%) favored the allopath system of medicine. [ 42 ] Dependency on “Quacks” is reported to be due to easy access, availability of medicine on the spot, reduced transaction cost as compared with Govt. health centers, level of trust in “Quacks” and private practitioners from earlier favorable results, and non-availability of qualified doctors at the public facilities.…”