Publication:

Assessment of health care seeking behaviour and its associated factors amongst the residents of a rural community of Kamrup District in Assam: a mixed method study

Background Healthcare seeking behaviour (HSB) is an important determinant of health outcome. There are multiple socio demographic & provider related variables which determines the HSB of a community. Recognition of these determinants is important in promoting appropriate health care seeking behaviour.

Methods The study was a cross sectional study with mixed method design conducted amongst 200 households in a rural area of Assam. Systematic random sampling was used to determine the households to be interviewed and only one responder was taken from each household. Along with a predesigned and pretested questionnaire, health literacy was assessed through the HLS-EU-Q16 questionnaire (translated to the local language). Qualitative data was collected through 2 Focus Group Discussions and 4 In-Depth Interviews.

Results The study determined that 62% of the population had appropriate HSB while the rest (38%) lacked appropriate HSB. The Health Literacy of 31% population was problematic, 23% was inadequate while only 46% had sufficient Health Literacy. The tribal population had significantly higher inappropriate HSB as compared to the non tribals variable [A.O.R- 2.12; CI (1.15-3.88)]. Qualitative analysis revealed that participants were multiple barriers such as “Inappropriate disease severity perception”, “Inconvenient OPD timings” amongst host of other barriers. Similarly, “Pro-Active approach of Health Care Workers” was amongst the factors identified as enabler.

Conclusions As health care providers we need to focus on the tribal community and ensure that proper confidence building measures are in place to make sure that the apprehensions are addressed.