Health Care Seeking Behavior on Common Childhood Illnesses and Associated Factors among Mothers with Under Five Children in Lume District East Shoa, Central Ethiopia

Abstract

Background:-Health care seeking behavior has been defined as any action undertaken by individuals who perceive themselves to have a health problem or to be ill for the purpose of finding an appropriate remedy. In most developing countries, the health of the children is strongly dependent on maternal healthcare behavior. Appropriate and prompt health seeking is critical in the management of childhood illnesses. However, there is scarcity of information among mothers/caregivers for treatment of common childhood illness. Objective:-The objective of this study is to determine health care seeking behavior and associated factors on common childhood illnesses among mothers with under five children from February 01 to March 01, 2018. Method:-Community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 611 mothers/caregivers with under five children who had common childhood illness within two weeks preceding the survey. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Data was collected by face to face interview using structured questionnaire. The collected data was entered into Epi Data version 3.02 and exported to SPSS version 20.0 for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis were undertaken to identify the factors associated with health care seeking. OR and 95% confidence interval was computed. Results: Of the total sick children with common childhood illness reported, care was sought for 414 (69.9%) 95%CI :( 66.0%, 74.0%) from health facilities. Being urban dwellers (AOR=3.10; 95%CI: 1.10, 9.10), education status of mother being primary school (AOR=4.14; 95%CI: 2.17, 7.89), and perceived severity of the illnesses (AOR=3.21; 95%CI: 1.62, 6.30), were identified as independent predictors of health care seeking practices from health facilities. Perception that illness was not serious 54(49.5%) and lack of money16 (14.7%) were the main reasons given for failure to seek care from health facilities by the mothers. Conclusion: Although health care was most often sought from health facilities (69.9%), considerable proportion of mothers, (30.1%) of the sick children were not taken to health facilities for care. Seeking care from HF’s was delayed (70.1%).Furthermore, residence of mother’s education status of the mothers, and mothers/caregivers perceptions about severity of illness were independent predictors of modern health care seeking behavior for childhood illnesses.