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Care seeking behaviour for childhood illness--a questionnaire survey in western Nepal
Chandrashekhar T Sreeramareddy1, Ravi P Shankar, Binu V Sreekumaran
1Department of Community Medicine, Manipal College of Medical Sciences, PO Box: 155, Pokhara, Nepal. chandrashekharats@yahoo.com
Insights
Mothers
Area of Science:
- Child Health
- Public Health
- Health Seeking Behavior
Background:
- Childhood illnesses are a major cause of mortality globally.
- Prompt and appropriate care can significantly reduce child deaths, estimated by the WHO to be by 20% for acute respiratory infections.
- Understanding maternal care-seeking behavior is crucial for improving child survival rates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess maternal care-seeking behavior during childhood illness in Nepal.
- To identify predictors of mothers' decisions in seeking care for their children.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional survey was conducted in immunization clinics in Pokhara, Nepal.
- Trained health workers interviewed mothers of children who had been ill within the preceding 15 days.
Main Results:
- Pharmacies were the most common site for seeking care (46.2%), followed by medical practitioners (26.4%).
- Appropriate and prompt care was sought by only 11.3% of mothers.
- Key predictors for care-seeking behavior included family income, number of symptoms, maternal education, and perceived illness severity.
Conclusions:
- Mothers were more likely to seek care when they perceived the illness as serious.
- Improving maternal knowledge of danger signs through community programs is essential.
- Socioeconomic development can help urban poor families overcome financial barriers to accessing timely and appropriate care.
Background:
The World Health Organization estimates that seeking prompt and appropriate care could reduce child deaths due to acute respiratory infections by 20%. The purpose of our study was to assess care seeking behaviour of the mothers during childhood illness and to determine the predictors of mother's care seeking behaviour.
Methods:
A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the immunization clinics of Pokhara city, Kaski district, western Nepal. A trained health worker interviewed the mothers of children suffering from illness during the preceding 15 days.
Results:
A total of 292 mothers were interviewed. Pharmacies (46.2%) were the most common facilities where care was sought followed by allopathic medical practitioners (26.4%). No care was sought for 8 (2.7%) children and 26 (8.9%) children received traditional/home remedies. 'Appropriate', 'prompt' and 'appropriate and prompt' care was sought by 77 (26.4%), 166 (56.8%) and 33 (11.3%) mothers respectively. The mothers were aware of fever (51%), child becoming sicker (45.2%) and drinking poorly (42.5%) as the danger signs of childhood illness. By multiple logistic regression analysis total family income, number of symptoms, mothers' education and perceived severity of illness were the predictors of care seeking behaviour.
Conclusion:
The results of the present study show that the mothers were more likely to seek care when they perceived the illness as 'serious'. Poor maternal knowledge of danger signs of childhood illness warrants the need for a complementary introduction of community-based Integrated Management of Childhood Illness programmes to improve family's care seeking behaviour and their ability to recognize danger signs of childhood illness. Socioeconomic development of the urban poor may overcome their financial constraints to seek 'appropriate' and 'prompt' care during the childhood illness.
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