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Factors Affecting Health Seeking Behaviors Among Mothers of Under Five Children Attending Primary Health Care Centers, Sudan

Received: 24 September 2019     Accepted: 18 October 2019     Published: 30 October 2019
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Abstract

Children represent the most vulnerable age group in any community. In Sudan they have higher morbidity and mortality rates. Mothers’ health seeking behaviors are major determinants for improving child health and knowledge about the factors influencing such practice is very crucial for designing effective intervention strategies. This studyaimsto study factors affecting health seeking behaviors for illness in under five children among the mothers in Khartoum state, Sudan. It was Across-sectional study usingbothquantitative and qualitative methods, Four hundreds and ninety five (495) mothers of those who visited the vaccination units of 33 public health centers were interviewed. Four focus group discussions were held. Chi-square test and regression analysis were used to determine the association between different factors and health seeking behaviors. The results showed that Eighty percent of mothers (80%) seek health care for their ill children. Of them, 70% went immediately to heath facility after disease occurrence. The person who took the decision of going to health facility (p-value=0.000) and work time for the health facility (p-value=0.001) were found to be significantly associated with mothers’ seeking behavior using bivariate and multivariate analysis. Since the person who took the decision of going to health facility is the most determinant for mothers’ seeking behavior, awareness rising among mothers about the importance of going to health facility immediately after disease occurrence can improve child health outcomes.

Published in Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 7, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.sjph.20190706.11
Page(s) 181-186
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Children, Mothers, Health Seeking Behavior, Treatment Seeking, Behavior

References
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[7] Ferdous F, Dil Farzana F, Ahmed S, Das SK, Malek MA, Das J, et al. Mothers’ perception and healthcare seeking behavior of pneumonia children in Rural Bangladesh. ISRN family medicine. 2014; 2014.
[8] Rosenstock IM. Why people use health services. The Milbank Quarterly. 2005; 83 (4).
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[10] Simieneh MM, Mengistu MY, Gelagay AA, Gebeyehu MT. Mothers’ health care seeking behavior and associated factors for common childhood illnesses, Northwest Ethiopia: community based cross-sectional study. BMC health services research. 2019; 19 (1): 59.
[11] Wambui WM, Kimani S, Odhiambo E. Determinants of Health Seeking Behavior among Caregivers of Infants Admitted with Acute Childhood Illnesses at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya. International journal of pediatrics. 2018; 2018.
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[14] Sakisaka K, Jimba M, Hanada K. Changing poor mothers' care-seeking behaviors in response to childhood illness: findings from a cross-sectional study in Granada, Nicaragua. BMC international health and human rights. 2010; 10 (1): 10.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Mahmouda Mohammed Khalil, Elfatih Mohamed Malik, Nada Mohamed Ali Alnair, Ibrahim Ismail Mohamed Abu. (2019). Factors Affecting Health Seeking Behaviors Among Mothers of Under Five Children Attending Primary Health Care Centers, Sudan. Science Journal of Public Health, 7(6), 181-186. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20190706.11

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    ACS Style

    Mahmouda Mohammed Khalil; Elfatih Mohamed Malik; Nada Mohamed Ali Alnair; Ibrahim Ismail Mohamed Abu. Factors Affecting Health Seeking Behaviors Among Mothers of Under Five Children Attending Primary Health Care Centers, Sudan. Sci. J. Public Health 2019, 7(6), 181-186. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20190706.11

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    AMA Style

    Mahmouda Mohammed Khalil, Elfatih Mohamed Malik, Nada Mohamed Ali Alnair, Ibrahim Ismail Mohamed Abu. Factors Affecting Health Seeking Behaviors Among Mothers of Under Five Children Attending Primary Health Care Centers, Sudan. Sci J Public Health. 2019;7(6):181-186. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20190706.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.sjph.20190706.11,
      author = {Mahmouda Mohammed Khalil and Elfatih Mohamed Malik and Nada Mohamed Ali Alnair and Ibrahim Ismail Mohamed Abu},
      title = {Factors Affecting Health Seeking Behaviors Among Mothers of Under Five Children Attending Primary Health Care Centers, Sudan},
      journal = {Science Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {7},
      number = {6},
      pages = {181-186},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjph.20190706.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20190706.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjph.20190706.11},
      abstract = {Children represent the most vulnerable age group in any community. In Sudan they have higher morbidity and mortality rates. Mothers’ health seeking behaviors are major determinants for improving child health and knowledge about the factors influencing such practice is very crucial for designing effective intervention strategies. This studyaimsto study factors affecting health seeking behaviors for illness in under five children among the mothers in Khartoum state, Sudan. It was Across-sectional study usingbothquantitative and qualitative methods, Four hundreds and ninety five (495) mothers of those who visited the vaccination units of 33 public health centers were interviewed. Four focus group discussions were held. Chi-square test and regression analysis were used to determine the association between different factors and health seeking behaviors. The results showed that Eighty percent of mothers (80%) seek health care for their ill children. Of them, 70% went immediately to heath facility after disease occurrence. The person who took the decision of going to health facility (p-value=0.000) and work time for the health facility (p-value=0.001) were found to be significantly associated with mothers’ seeking behavior using bivariate and multivariate analysis. Since the person who took the decision of going to health facility is the most determinant for mothers’ seeking behavior, awareness rising among mothers about the importance of going to health facility immediately after disease occurrence can improve child health outcomes.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Factors Affecting Health Seeking Behaviors Among Mothers of Under Five Children Attending Primary Health Care Centers, Sudan
    AU  - Mahmouda Mohammed Khalil
    AU  - Elfatih Mohamed Malik
    AU  - Nada Mohamed Ali Alnair
    AU  - Ibrahim Ismail Mohamed Abu
    Y1  - 2019/10/30
    PY  - 2019
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20190706.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.sjph.20190706.11
    T2  - Science Journal of Public Health
    JF  - Science Journal of Public Health
    JO  - Science Journal of Public Health
    SP  - 181
    EP  - 186
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-7950
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20190706.11
    AB  - Children represent the most vulnerable age group in any community. In Sudan they have higher morbidity and mortality rates. Mothers’ health seeking behaviors are major determinants for improving child health and knowledge about the factors influencing such practice is very crucial for designing effective intervention strategies. This studyaimsto study factors affecting health seeking behaviors for illness in under five children among the mothers in Khartoum state, Sudan. It was Across-sectional study usingbothquantitative and qualitative methods, Four hundreds and ninety five (495) mothers of those who visited the vaccination units of 33 public health centers were interviewed. Four focus group discussions were held. Chi-square test and regression analysis were used to determine the association between different factors and health seeking behaviors. The results showed that Eighty percent of mothers (80%) seek health care for their ill children. Of them, 70% went immediately to heath facility after disease occurrence. The person who took the decision of going to health facility (p-value=0.000) and work time for the health facility (p-value=0.001) were found to be significantly associated with mothers’ seeking behavior using bivariate and multivariate analysis. Since the person who took the decision of going to health facility is the most determinant for mothers’ seeking behavior, awareness rising among mothers about the importance of going to health facility immediately after disease occurrence can improve child health outcomes.
    VL  - 7
    IS  - 6
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Health Information and M & E Directorate, Federal Ministry of Health, Khartoum, Sudan

  • Community Medicine Department, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan

  • Academy of Health Sciences, Federal Ministry of Health, Khartoum, Sudan

  • Community Medicine Department, King Abdul-Aziz University, Jedha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

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