A study on the health seeking behavior among caregivers of under-five children in an urban slum of Bhubaneswar, Odisha

Abstract

Background:The under-five children are a vulnerable age group; their mortality reflecting a country's overall development. Timely and appropriate healthcare seeking behavior, if practiced by caregivers, can have a significant impact on survival. The slum dwellers have poor health-seeking behavior due to their lower socioeconomic status, prevailing malnutrition, poor immunization status, overcrowding, poor sanitation, personal and cultural practices, beliefs, and attitude toward healthcare providers.Objectives:(1) To assess the health-seeking behavior among caregivers of under-five children during acute childhood illness (2) To find out the factors associated with their treatment-seeking behavior.Materials and Methods:A community-based cross-sectional study, among 260 caregivers, in the field practice area of Urban Health and Training Centre of a medical college was undertaken from September 1, 2016 to February 28, 2017, using a pretested semistructured questionnaire after obtaining a list of under-fives from the female health worker.Results:In total, 260 caregivers with mean of 26.61 ± 4.31 years participated in the study, 77.69% reported of some health morbidity. Around 21.92% of the caregivers gave primary care at home, 33.46% visited a chemist, and 33.08% attended health facility nearby. About 79.23% sought healthcare immediately following illness. Of the remaining 20.77% who did not seek medical advice, 75.93% used home remedies. Significant association was found between the age of the mother, educational status of the mother, religion, birth order of the child and socioeconomic status of the caregivers, and appropriate treatment seeking behavior during an episode of acute illness.Conclusion:This study attempted to identify health-seeking behavior of caregivers for children under-five and the determinants of appropriate treatment-seeking behavior. The knowledge of signs and symptoms of ill-health can reduce morbidity and mortality; however, continuous education of caregivers for recognition of symptoms and the need to seek appropriate medical care is needed. Government facility was the preferred choice for the population in the sampled slum. Treatment-seeking behavior was good among the respondents with majority having appropriate behavior. Measures can be taken to help promote awareness among those who did not have appropriate treatment seeking behavior.

Delay in health‐seeking behaviour: Implication to yellow fever outcome in the 2019 outbreak in Nigeria

“…The finding agrees with previous studies that reported delay in health-seeking behaviours among diverse populations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Luwero District, Uganda, and Gambella town, Ethiopia (Cherie & Berhanu, 2012;Lubega et al 2015;Tsadik et al, 2019). However, the finding disagrees with previous studies (Begashaw & Tesfaye, 2016;Mishra et al, 2019) that reported good health-seeking behaviours among their respondents. Hence, these factors may constitute barriers to vaccination programmes, including YF and other health services by communities, and may further accentuate poor health-seeking behaviours among the people.…”

Study of health care seeking behaviour for illnesses among malnourished children of age 06-59 months in rural and urban areas of Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh

“…A study by Mishra et al on topic "A study on the health seeking behaviour among caregivers of under-five children in an urban slum of Bhubaneswar, Odisha", the place of preference for seeking care was Government Hospital (30.59%) followed by medicine store, private clinics, anganwadi centers and quacks (2.28%). 24 Another study done in Assam by Borah et al reported that Government facilities was preferred by majority (41.8%), followed by health worker (17.5%), family member (16.8%), and private doctor (9.6%) of the participants during any childhood illness. 8,25 With regards to socio-demographic characteristics of caregivers, it has been observed that, percentage of illiteracy for both mother and father were more in rural areas than in urban areas which might be the reason that health seeking behaviour of rural is not better than urban and most of the parents prefer quacks and faith healers as compare to health facility.…”

Morbidity Patterns in Underfive Children in an Urban Low Socioeconomic Community of Guntur City in Andhra Pradesh

“…Venkatachalam et al (2014) Mishra K et al in their study in an urban slum of Bhubaneswar found that 77.7 % of the under ives had some illness in the preceding 6 months and recorded 213 episodes of different morbidities among 260 children. Mohapatra et al (2019) The place of preference for seeking care was Government Hospital (30.59%) followed by medical store, private clinics, Anganwadi centers and quacks (2.28%). Mohapatra et al (2019) Minz et al in their study in an urban slum of Lucknow, said that the respondents mainly preferred a quali ied private practitioner (65.4%), followed by an unquali ied private practitioner (26.9%) and a tertiary care health center (7.8%).…”

“…"The State Of The World's Children" (2019) Factors known to predict increased survival in underives healthcare during an episode of acute illness are mother's age and educational level, family religion and socioeconomic status, seeking health care in time among others. Mohapatra et al (2019) This study is set to look at under ive children's morbidity patterns in a low socioeconomic area of Guntur city by estimating point prevalence, 2 week period prevalence and annual occurrence of illnesses as recalled by the mothers.…”