Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Oct 23:7:1129-38.
doi: 10.2147/PPA.S51124. eCollection 2013.

Factors affecting health seeking behavior for common childhood illnesses in Yemen

Hana Hasan Webair  1 , Abdulla Salim Bin-Gouth
Affiliations

Factors affecting health seeking behavior for common childhood illnesses in Yemen

Hana Hasan Webair et al. Patient Prefer Adherence. .

Abstract

Introduction: Appropriate medical care seeking could prevent a significant number of child deaths and complications due to ill health. This study aims to determine factors affecting health seeking behavior (HSB) for childhood illnesses, thereby improving child survival.

Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out from January 11 to April 2, 2012. A total of 212 caretakers of children under the age of 5 years participated. Caretakers who visited the vaccination unit in the Shehair Health Center during the study period and had a child with a history of diarrhea, fever, cough, and/or difficulty of breathing during the last 14 days were included. The data were collected by interviewing caretakers and the answers were reported in pretested structured questionnaires.

Results: Medical care was sought for about half of the sick children (n=109, 51.42%). Seeking medical care was frequently initiated for illnesses that did not improve or worsened. The major reasons for not seeking medical care were "illness was mild" (n=40, 38.83%) and "illness is not for medical treatment" (n=32, 31.07%). The caretakers sought medical care significantly more when they had a higher level of school education (POR [prevalence odds ratio] 5.85, 95% CI [confidence interval]: 2.34-14.61), when the illness was perceived as severe (POR 5.39, 95% CI: 2.81-10.33), and when the child had difficulty of breathing (POR 2.93, 95% CI: 1.10-7.80).

Conclusion: For the preventable childhood illnesses with existing interventions, appropriate HSB prevalence is low. Symptom type, caretakers' education, and perception of illness severity are the predictors of HSB. Educational improvement of the mothers, introduction of community based integrated management of childhood illness, and in-depth research are imperative to improve mothers' HSB.

Keywords: Shehair Health Center; childhood survival; cross sectional; medical care.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Factors affecting HSB for common childhood illnesses; study variables. Abbreviation: HSB, health seeking behavior.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Caretakers’ distribution by the source of care.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Causes of delaying and avoiding seeking medical care.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ashorn U. Child health-seeking in Lungwena, Malawi [academic dissertation] Tampere: University of Tampere; 2003.
    1. Children: reducing mortality [webpage on the internet] Geneva: World Health Organization; 2012Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs178/en/index.htmlAccessed October 12, 2012
    1. Johansson EW, Carvajal L, Newby H, Young M.Pneumonia and Diarrhoea: Tackling the Deadliest Diseases for the World’s Poorest Children New York: UNICEF; 2012Available from: http://www.unicef.org/media/files/UNICEF_P_D_complete_0604.pdfAccessed December 27, 2012
    1. Child health in the community – “Community IMCI”: briefing package for facilitators [webpage on the internet] Geneva: World Health Organization; 2004Available from: http://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/documents/9241591951/en/ind...Accessed June 29, 2012
    1. Goldman N, Heuveline P. Health-seeking behaviour for child illness in Guatemala. Trop Med Int Health. 2001;5(2):145–155. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources