RESUMO
The study reports the prevalence of non-conducive behavioural practices in the area of “health care” prevalent in 1134 families of Northern India. Sample consisted of 563 families from rural and 571 families from urban area of Barabanki (Centre), Muzaffarnagar (North) & Gorakhpur (East) district of Uttar Pradesh, India. Behaviour correlates in the area of health care were mapped on a pre-prepared schedule, “Proforma for mapping of Behaviour correlates”. Percentage, hypothesis testing for difference between proportions and rank-order correlation was used for statistical analysis of data. Findings suggest that significantly more families from rural areas were involved in non-health conducive behavioral practices in all the studied constituent elements of self care except ‘carefulness about oral hygiene’. Urban families were more frequently involved in regular daily routine, carefulness about personal hygiene, appropriate use of personal & leisure time activities, elderly & child care than rural area. The study highlights the need for behavioural intervention both in urban as well as rural families in day to day living.