Utilization of Outpatient Health Care among the People of Rural Assam

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the factors that actually guide people's decision regarding kind of health care service chosen for outpatient treatment in rural Assam. For that, primary data have been collected from the rural areas of Goalpara as it is one of the representative districts of Assam. A total of 281 households were selected through multistage sampling in which 122 cases were found, where outpatient health care was utilized during the 30-day reference period. Bivariate analysis has been done in terms of Pearson's correlation coefficient to see the relation between the explanatory variables and response variable. Further, multinomial logistic model has been used to find the factors responsible for people's diverse choice regarding the utilization of outpatient health care. This study has identified the economic condition of the rural household which the patient belongs to; the level of education of the patient herself and severity of ailment are the major factors which actually guides the decision regarding the utilization of outpatient health care in rural Goalpara.