A comparative study on health seeking behaviour of parents towards their child’s illness in rural and urban field practice area of a medical college

ABSTRACT

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.