Health Care Seeking Behaviour and Predictors of Combined Orthodox and Traditional Health Care Utilization among Households in Communities in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Health care seeking behaviour is a complex, dynamic and multidimensional process that involves a sequence of remedial actions that are influenced by the interaction between the individual, household and community with the intention of addressing perceived ill health. Objective: To determine health care seeking attitude and behaviour and the predictors of combined orthodox and traditional health care use among households in communities in Owerri, Imo State. Nigeria. Methods: A cross sectional design that used a multistage random sampling technique to select 500 participants from households in two communities in Owerri, Imo State. Data was collected using a pretested, semi structured questionnaire. Descriptive analyses were done with frequencies and summary statistics. Chi square statistics were computed to determine significant relationships and binary logistic regression was used to determine predictors of combined use. P was set at 0.05 significance level. Results: The results revealed that, while just more than half of the respondents (56.4%) had a moderate to good level of overall knowledge of health care, almost all of the respondents (96.2%) also had a moderate to good level of overall positive attitude towards seeking health care; with less than one third (29.4%) using combined orthodox and traditional health care treatments. It further revealed that, respondents who were female, traders and from households of polygamous families were significantly more likely to use

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