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Introduction: The Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) are a vulnerable population and need special at-tention in fight against the HIV/AIDS. The HIV trend has been an increasing trend among MSM. Methodology: It’s a facility based cross sectional study undertaken in the Targeted Intervention sites in Hyderabad, Telangana. A total of 300 Men who have Sex with Men who are above 18 years of age and registered were included. All the MSM visiting the TI centers during the study period were interviewed by using a pre-designed, pre-tested, semi structured and pre-coded proforma. Results: Majority of participants 119(39.66%) had their first sexual encounter at the age of 15-17 years. 130(43.33%) visited the Target Intervention centers 1-2 times during the last month. About half of the participants i.e., 141(47.00%) belongs to Kothi Group and most of the MSM i.e., 198(66.00%) used con-dom during the sex with male last time. Conclusions: Stigma and cultural intolerance of same-sex relations are often largely to blame for rising epidemics, and until these issues are addressed it will be difficult to make headway in reducing HIV in-fection levels among MSM - which, in turn, will hinder the wider global efforts to manage HIV and AIDS.
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Context: Reproductive health, a crucial aspect of general health is of significant importance for human development. Lack of awareness, cultural barriers and economic factors prevent them from seeking timely care. Aims and objectives: 1. To determine prevalence of gynecological morbidities among ever married women. 2. To assess the health seeking behavior for gynecological morbidities and 3. To explore factors associated with health seeking behavior Methods and Material: It was community based cross sectional study conducted during January 2011 to June 2012 at Nanded city in Maharashtra including 750 ever married women. Probability proportionate sampling using 30 stage cluster sampling technique was used. Out of 65 wards in city 30 wards were identified and 25 study subjects from each ward were selected by rotating bottle at centre of the ward and continuing survey in the direction of mouth of the bottle. Statistical analysis: Data analysis was carried out with the help of statistical measures, such as percentages, proportion, chi square test and chi square test for trend. Results: Menstrual irregularity 351 (46.8%) was commonestgynecological morbidity. Treatment seeking behaviour was best among women suffering from infertility. There was statistically significant association between types of gynecological morbidities, no. of gynecological morbidities and treatment seeking behaviour. Most common reason of not taking treatment was feeling no need of treatment. Conclusions: Treatment seeking behaviour differs in different type of gynecological morbidities. Commonly women prefer private health facility for taking treatment. Those women with a greater number of gynecological morbidities took treatment from health centre.
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Introduction: Self-medication can lead to problems such as adverse effects and antibiotic resistance. This study was conducted to estimate the proportion of self-medication practice, to elicit the reasons for practicing self-medication, to find the factors associated with self-medication practice and to assess the health seeking behaviour among a rural community of West Bengal. Method: A study with mixed-methods approach was conducted among 212 households from four selected villages in a block of West Bengal. Focussed Group Discussions were held with respondents who were practising self-medication. Data were analysed using SPSS 25.0 and Atlas ti 7.0. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to find the factors associated with self-medication practice. Results: The proportion of self-medication practice was found to be 41%. Allopathy was most commonly preferred system of Medicine (78.8%). Statistically significant factors associated with self-medication practice were education upto Middle school (aOR 3.59) and Secondary level (aOR 10.71), Class III socio-economic status (aOR 5.03) and presence of acute illness (aOR 28.92). Conclusion: Proportion of self-medication practice among rural population was high. This needs to be addressed and health education should be provided to them.
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@#Introduction: Anaemia is a common health problem in Malaysia, most common being iron deficiency anaemia (IDA). This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitude, practices (KAP), and health-seeking behaviour (HSB) towards anaemia among undergraduate female students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 180 female university students from a medical university in Malaysia. Data were collected using an online questionnaire comprising KAP and HSB. SPSS version 25.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results: Most participants (60%) had an appropriate level of knowledge about anaemia. A positive attitude was shown with adequate awareness of anaemia. A total of 55.5% of participants reported having good health practices. However, 52.9% of the participants consumed less iron-rich foods and 81.7% reported skipping meals. The overall observed healthseeking behaviour was good. A statistically significant relationship was found between knowledge with attitude (p=0.003) and practice (p=0.005). This study observed that the study population had poor nutritional status, long menstrual duration, and vegetarianism. Moreover, infrequent consumption of vitamin C-rich fruits and low iron-folate supplementation were also observed. Conclusion: A good level of knowledge on IDA among students was noted. However, most of the students showed a lack of positive attitude and good practices towards preventing anaemia. University students are prone to IDA due to a lack of KAP, which can significantly affect health-seeking behaviour. This issue should not be neglected; therefore, implementing intervention programmes to educate students on the preventive measures against the risk factors of IDA is recommended.
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Background: Health insurance is also called as medical insurance offering coverage that pays for unexpected medical and surgical expenses to the policyholder. A health insurance plan is one of the most secured and safest way to provide financial coverage to the insured family. Objective of this study was to assess utilization, satisfaction, out of pocket expenses and to determine the health seeking behaviour of the insured residents of the rural field practice area of SSIMS and RC, Davanagere.Methods: The study was done in the rural field practice area of the medical college, Davangere from January 2016 to December 2016. A sample of 600 families were studied by systematic random sampling and data was collected from the head of the family using structured questionnaire by house to house interview. Statistical analysis was carried out by SPSS v10, percentages, proportions and Chi-square tests were applied to find the association among the variables.Results: The utilization of health insurance in the present study was 50.2% and satisfaction regarding the health insurance schemes was 93.4%.Conclusions: The study reveals that the out of pocket expenses is high among the uninsured families compared to the insured families. The Insurance policies should be revived to do favour the patients so that more families will be encouraged to enrol and utilize so that the out of pocket expenses will be reduced.
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INTRODUCTION@#Elderly persons who live alone are more likely to be socially isolated and at increased risk of adverse health outcomes, unnecessary hospital re-admissions and premature mortality. We aimed to understand the health-seeking behaviour of elderly persons living alone in public rental housing in Singapore.@*METHODS@#In-depth interviews were conducted using a semi-structured question guide. Participants were selected using a purposive sampling approach. Interviews were conducted until theme saturation was reached. Qualitative data collected was analysed using manual thematic coding methods.@*RESULTS@#Data analysis revealed five major themes: accessibility of healthcare services and financial assistance schemes; perceived high cost of care; self-management; self-reliance; and mismatch between perceived needs and services.@*CONCLUSION@#Elderly persons living in one-room rental flats are a resilient and resourceful group that values self-reliance and independence. Most of the elderly who live alone develop self-coping mechanisms to meet their healthcare needs rather than seek formal medical consultation. The insightful findings from this study should be taken into consideration when models of healthcare delivery are being reviewed and designed so as to support the disadvantaged elderly living alone.
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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.
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Background: Even though appropriate medical care seeking could prevent a significant number of child deaths, significant numbers of children die without ever reaching a health facility or due to delays in seeking care.1 This study aimed to compare health seeking behaviour among malnourished children in rural and urban areas.Methods: Cross sectional study carried out in rural and urban areas of Jabalpur district among 1237 children of age group 06-59 months in randomly selected in eight wards and two blocks of Jabalpur District. Where 720 children were from urban wards and 517 from rural villages. Multistage random sampling technique was used for the selection of study subjects. Predesigned questionnaire used to collect data.Results: Out of 720 children of urban area, percentage of acute malnutrition (low weight-for-height) was 136 (18.8%) while in rural area, out of 517 children percentage of acute malnutrition (low weight-for-height) was 102 (19.7%). Out of 136 malnourished children in urban, 32 (23.5%) were having illness while in rural out of 102, 43 (42.1%) were having illness. In rural areas, the mother or primary care giver of the study subjects preferred nearby government hospital (21.9%) the most during illness. While in urban, registered private practitioner (47%) were mostly preferred for consulting during sickness. Still 16.3% of the caregiver in rural area preferred quacks.Conclusions: This shows that the approach of health seeking behaviour is better in urban areas as compared to rural as people still prefer quacks in rural areas.
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Background: There is lack of information regarding health seeking behaviour of local population during Chhath puja. The aim is to evaluate health seeking behaviour of local population during Chhath festival. And the main objectives is to evaluate the extent of change of routine visits of people seeking healthcare during Chhath festival across major super speciality departments of government hospital.Methods: Database of outpatient department visits across nine super specialities namely, cardiology, gastroenterology, gastrointestinal surgery, neurology, neurosurgery, nephrology, urology, paediatric surgery and oncology were obtained for year 2016, 2017 and 2018 from hospital records. Median and maximum number of outpatient visits per month of each of the nine specialities per year was compared with number of outpatient visits during Chhath festival month of corresponding year.Results: In year 2018, there was 18% average absolute decline of outpatient visit during Chhath month compared to median number of outpatient visits per month that year. Similarly, the average absolute decline of OPD visits was 32% during Chhath month compared to the month when there was maximum number of outpatient visits in 2018. Cardiology, gastroenterology, neurology, nephrology and oncology had more than 20% absolute decline in 2018 compared to median. Trends was similar in year 2017 and 2016, with average decline in Chhath month compared to median and maximum outpatient visits in corresponding year as 3%, 14%, 10% and 26% respectively.Conclusions: Health seeking behaviour of local population drops by one fifth during Chhath festival. Fall in outpatient visits is consistent, uniform and recurring every year.
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Background: The attitude of parents towards their children’s health and illness is an important factor with regards to child’s overall development. In most developing countries, the health of the children is strongly dependent on parental healthcare behavior. This current study mainly looks into these aspects.Methods: A community based cross sectional study involving urban and rural area field practice areas of a medical college in the study period of November 2016-January 2017 with a sample size of 100 families each having children in urban and rural areas have been fixed purposively. House to house survey done by simple random method using pretested semi structured interview schedules.Results: Around 55% of rural parents took treatment from RMP (quacks) with 55% of urban counterparts opting for wait and watch method. Only 8% of respondents from both areas too their children to a pediatrician. About 12% of urban area went to government hospital and none from rural utilized government hospital facilities.Conclusions: Large proportions of respondents did not seek appropriate medical care for childhood illnesses.
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Background: Swine flu influenza is an infection by H1N1 type of swine influenza virus. Swine influenza virus or swine-origin influenza virus (SIV or S-OIV) is a strain of the family of influenza viruses that’s endemic in swine (pigs). Early diagnosis and treatment is key approach to control the morbidity and mortality associated with swine flu which can be achieved by improving health seeking behaviour of community. Understanding of behaviour of community is essential for planning strategies for prevention and control. Aim of this study is to establish a relation between healthcare interval and outcome of swine flu.Methods: A complete data of all the patients visiting swine flu OPDs, swine flu wards and ICU were maintained for year 2015. Each patient visiting either the swine flu OPD or the swine flu ward, who was suspected clinically to be H1N1 positive were tested for real time PCR. Data was collected in a standardized pre-structured questionnaire.Results: Out of 1247 samples tested for rt-PCR, number of patients found to be swine positive was 491 (39.37%). Total 267 patients were admitted in swine flu ward and ICU, out of them 62 was expired. Clinical care intervals of more than 5 days from onset of symptoms to swab collection, diagnosis and admission were more in female and rural population. Mean duration between onset of symptom to hospitalization, swab collection and diagnosis was significantly higher in deceased patients than survived.Conclusions: Early presentation to healthcare facility is associated with better prognosis and outcome. After patient report to the health care setup, early sample collection and diagnosis help to reduce mortality.
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Background: Diabetes mellitus is a multisystem disorder associated with number of complications. If patients are to contribute to the effective control of diabetes, awareness and practices can assist in reducing the incidence of its complications.Methods: A cross-sectional study of 200 type II diabetic patients at JSS Hospital, Mysuru was conducted, assessment of health seeking behaviour using semi structured questionnaire was done. Quality of life was assessed using WHO QOL-BREF Questionnaire.Results: Among 200 study participants 53.5% belongs to age group 41-60, 57.5% were males, 44.5% were having family history of diabetes, 68.5% were on oral hypoglycemic agents. 163 (81.5%) were anxious when they were diagnosed as diabetics, 123 (61.5%) were influenced by themselves to go for investigations, 68 (34%)were influenced by Doctors, 131 (65.5%) had no money as the barrier to attend hospital for check-up, 186 (93%) visit hospital once in less than 3 months, 180 (90%) of them believed oral drugs are the treatment for diabetes, 188 (94%) prefer Allopathic medicine. Association between initial response on diagnosis and interval for regular monitoring with Quality of life of diabetic patients was statically significant (p?0.05).Conclusions: Health seeking behaviour is an important determinant of controlled glycaemic status and Quality of life of people living with diabetes.
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Aims:This study was aimed at assessing disease morbidity pattern and health care seeking behaviour among the elderly in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State, Nigeria. Study Design:Descriptive cross-sectional study designPlace and Duration of Study:Calabar Municipal Local Government Area, Cross River State between Feburary 2015 to March 2015.Methodology:Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 200 elderly persons who gave consent to participate in the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. Data collected were collated and analysed using IBM SPSS version 20.0 and results were presented in tables. Chi-square was used to test for association between categorical variables Results:The result obtained showed that respondents within the age bracket of 65-69years 74(37.0%) constituted majority followed by those aged 70-74years 56(28.0%) and 75-79years 42(21.0%). More than half of the respondents 110(55%) were females while the remaining 90(45%) were males. This study revealed that malaria 50(23.1%), high blood pressure 43(19.9%) and joint pain/arthritis 31(14.4%) were the most identified health problems suffered by the elderly and the hospital/healthcare centre was where most elderly persons sought for treatment whenever they fall ill. Expenditure on health services received was largely out-of-pocket expenditure 86(43.0%). Other respondents revealed that their children 64(32.0%), relatives/in-laws 28(14.0%), spouse 16(8.0%) and friend(s) 6(3.0%) were responsible for their hospital bills. Most respondents 106(53.0%) who patronized the hospital/health center were satisfied with treatment received. Increasing age and gender were significantly associated with disease morbidity pattern among the elderly (P< .05). Conclusion:Improving geriatrics care through effective implementation of intervention programmes is pivotal to mitigating the rate of disease morbidity among the aged population
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Background: The phase of menopause is a physiological event which occurs as a result of progression of reproductive ageing. Women from developing countries view variations due to menopause as natural process and there is no need for medical care. The objective of the study was to assess the health seeking behaviour among the post menopausal women.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the rural and urban field practice areas of department of Community Medicine of Gandhi Medical College, Hyderabad. About 300 urban and 300 rural women were interviewed using a semi-structured and pretested questionnaire from August 2015 to September 2017.Results: Among the rural women, 100 (25.4%) women did not seek health care and among those who sought health care, majority (34.3%) preferred government healthcare services followed by 23% who consulted private facility. Of the urban women, 14.7% did not seek health care, 42% of the women approached private practitioner followed by 23% who sought health care in government hospital. Majority of the women (42.2%) did not seek health care as they thought they will be normal with time.Conclusions: More than one third of the women are not aware of menopause and related problems. Among those who did not seek health care, higher proportion felt they will be Ok with time followed by financial constraints, fear/shy, family problems and lack of transport.
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Background: Adolescents (10–19 years) are a vulnerable group in need of health information and services for their betterment. They are exposed to various vulnerabilities regarding health especially those living in slums. Self medication is defined as the use of medications without prescription for self treatment. Objectives: To study health seeking behaviour and self medication practices among adolescent slum dwellers of Guwahati. Materials and Methods: A Cross Sectional Study was carried out during October to December 2017 using pretested, predesigned pro forma covering 150 adolescent slum dwellers of Guwahati. Results: Majority (51%) of the adolescents were of age group 15–19 years. Males were 62%.Family perception was the major hindrance (22%) in seeking health care. 28% practised self medication. Conclusion: Further work–up is needed in the field of adolescent health services to make them aware of various health–care facilities.
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@#Doctor shopping increases health economic burden and morbidities. Its prevalence and predisposing factors have to beidentified in order to formulate preventive measures. We aimed to determine the prevalence of doctor shopping, its reasonsand predisposing factors by conducting a cross sectional study of new patients at the Dermatology Clinic, UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC). Doctor shopping was defined as having consultation with ≥3 healthcareproviders without a referral for the same illness prior to the patients’ visit to UKMMC. Reasons and contributing factorswere classified as disease, healthcare provider, logistic and cost related. Data was collected by a face to face interview.Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) questionnaire determined disease impact on the patients. A total of 58 (55.8%)female and 46 (44.2%) male patients participated. Referral was patient-initiated in 51.9% while 40.4% were doctorshopping. Age, gender, ethnicity, income, occupation and type of health finance provider were not associated with thisbehaviour. About 95% doctor shopped due to disease factors: searching for a cure (95.2%), lack of improvement (88.1%),worsening disease (50.0%), dissatisfaction with treatment (31.0%), seeking other opinions (26.2%) and exploringtreatment options (26.2%). Impaired DLQI (OR 1.17; 95% CI 1.08,1.38), p 0.04, and disease related factors (OR 6.57; 95%CI 1.52, 7.72), p 0.041 were significant independent risk factors. Doctor shopping is very common among our patients.Reasons and predisposing factors are predominantly disease related. Patient education and counselling is important inmanagement of dermatological diseases to prevent doctor shopping.
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Background: Faecal incontinence (FI) is not a commonpresenting complaint in Malaysia, and little has beenpublished on this topic. Since it is a treatable condition, agreater understanding of factors contributing to healthseekingbehaviour is needed in order to plan effectiveprovision of services.Methods: A survey of 1000 patients and accompanyingrelatives, visiting general surgical and obstetrics andgynaecology clinics for matters unrelated to FI, wasconducted at University Malaya Medical Centre betweenJanuary 2009 and February 2010. A follow-up regressionanalysis of the 83 patients who had FI, to identify factorsassociated with health-seeking behaviour, was performed.Variables identified through univariate analysis weresubjected to multivariate analysis to determineindependence. Reasons for not seeking treatment were alsoanalysed.Results: Only eight patients (9.6%) had sought medicaltreatment. On univariate analysis, the likelihood of seekingtreatment was significantly higher among patients who hadmore severe symptoms (OR 30.0, p=0.002), had incontinenceto liquid stool (OR 3.83, p=0.002) or when there was analteration to lifestyle (OR: 17.34; p<0.001). Nevertheless, theonly independently-associated variable was alteration inlifestyle. Common reasons given for not seeking treatmentwas that the condition did not affect patients’ daily activities(88.0%), “social taboo” (5.3%) and “other” reasons (6.7%).Conclusions: Lifestyle alteration is the main driver of healthseekingbehaviour in FI. However, the majority do not seektreatment. Greater public and physician-awareness on FIand available treatment options is needed.
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Background: The current global and demographic structure is shifting towards a higher proportion of elderly. This phenomenon in which older individual come to form a proportionately larger share of total population in the community is known as “Population ageing”. Health seeking behaviour refers to the sequence of remedial actions that individuals undertake to rectify perceived ill health. It is an important determinant of health status of the population and forms an important component in formulating health programmes. The objectives of the study were 1) To assess the health seeking behaviour of elderly residing in Rani block. 2) To study the various factors associated with health seeking behaviour. Methods: Total 390 elderly were included in the study. House to house visit was done and data was collected by interviewer method. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 17. Results: Out of 390 elderly, 68.5% belonged to the age group of 60-69 years, majority (82.8%) were found to be Hindus, 89% lived in joint family. Most of the elderly were illiterate (69.5%) and majority (48.2%) belonged to Class IV socio economic status. 72% elderly sought treatment for their chronic illness. Majority (51.5%) sought treatment from Government hospital and 98.5% received allopathic treatment. The most common reason cited for not seeking treatment for their chronic illness was financial reasons (63.2%). Conclusions: Education, socio economic status and living status play an important role in health seeking behaviour.
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Aims: The objectives were to determine the impact of health seeking behaviour, educational attainment and financial Strength on home management of malaria in rural communities in Imo State, Nigeria. Study Design: A descriptive survey design was used. Place and Duration of Study: Imo State, Nigeria, between February 2013 and April 2013 Methodology: The sample size was 2674 adults (1650 males, 1024 females, age range 20-70 years). A structured, validated and reliable questionnaire (r=0.81) was used to collect data from 2674 consenting respondents. Results: The result showed that the health seeking behaviours of respondents when they suspect malaria was as follows; 25.7 percent patronized patent medicine stores/chemist, 22.3 percent visited health centers/ hospitals,18.6 percent consulted family members/friends/ neighbor for help. This statistically had a significant influence on the pattern adopted in managing malaria at home (Chi-square = 263.98, P -value < 0.001). Furthermore, 25.4 percent of those who visited the health centers/hospitals used more of Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy in managing malaria. Those who patronized patent medicine/chemist used more of chloroquine/quinine (25.7 percent), only 18.1 percent used a special herb, dogonyaro/Akum shut up leaf (Azadirachta Indica) in managing malaria at home. Those who visited herbalists (20.5%) also used chloroquine/quinine while those that visited prayer houses also used more of chloroquine/quinine (22.3%) and less of ACT (15.5%). The impact of educational attainment on pattern of home management of malaria was statistically significant (Chisquare= 155.47,P-value<0.001). Those who had no formal education used more of Chloroquine/Quinine in managing malaria at home while those who attained secondary and tertiary education adopted more of Artemisinin-based combination Therapy (ACT) in managing malaria. Herbal treatment (Dogonyaro/Akum shut up leaf (Azadirachta Indica), seven leaves and application of local ointment/lotion) were less used by respondents with higher educational attainment. Financial strength was also found to be statistically associated with the pattern of management adopted by the rural dwellers (Chisquare= 118.46, P-value<0.001). Those whose average monthly income was above 30,000 Naira used more of conventional medication and less of herbs. Conclusion: The findings showed that the rural communities need more enlightenment and education on home management of malaria.
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Malaria is endemic throughout Nigeria. Majority of Nigerians, 70%, live in rural areas where subsistence farming is the main occupation. Most of them live below poverty line, earning less than USD1.25 a day. Their health-seeking behaviour for treatment of malaria is infl uenced by their low socioeconomic status since cost of treating malaria varies according to type of drug prescribed and source of treatment. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to assess the health-seeking behaviour of rural dwellers for treatment of presumptive malaria in Gimba village, a rural community of Kaduna State, Nigeria. It was conducted during Community Diagnosis posting of trained fi nal year medical students of Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria, in July 2012. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from all households in the community. Data analysis was done using STATA (Version 11. Stata Corporation 2009). Most of the respondents were farmers (69.7%). The category of household members that were most affected by malaria (presumptive) were under fi ves (47.4%) followed by housewives (26.5%). Majority of the households (73%) treated their last episodes of presumptive malaria at private drug vendor shops. There was a statistically signifi cant association between cost of treatment and place of seeking treatment (p < 0.001).The result indicated that most rural dwellers patronise unprofessional drug vendors for cheaper treatment of presumptive malaria. This jeopardizes malaria control efforts. For successful malaria control, it is recommended that the treatment of malaria should be free or subsidized and policies that favour Rural Economic Development should be implemented