Open AccessA study on care seeking behavior of chest symptomatics in a slum of Bankura, West Bengal
Author(s) -
Sreeparna Ghosh,
Apurba Sinhababu,
Pranita Taraphdar,
Dipta Kanti Mukhopadhyay,
Banamali Sinha Mahapatra,
Arnab Biswas
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
indian journal of public health/indian journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.381
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 2229-7693
pISSN - 0019-557X
DOI - 10.4103/0019-557x.70553
Subject(s) - slum , medicine , government (linguistics) , cross sectional study , health facility , environmental health , public health , population , west bengal , family medicine , pediatrics , demography , health services , socioeconomics , nursing , sociology , linguistics , philosophy , pathology
A cross-sectional, community based study was undertaken in Patpur slum of Bankura to determine the prevalence of chest symptomatics, their health care seeking Behavior and its correlates. Prevalence of chest symptomatics (cough for 3 weeks or more) was found to be 5.5%, three fourths of whom sought relief from a health care provider. Among them, 70.8% did so within 2 weeks, median being 7 days. No preference for either government or private health care provider was seen in first visit, where the major reason for choosing facilities was advice by family & friends (43.8%). Most of the chest symptomatics (75%) were retained in the same facility. Shift from private to government facility for subsequent visits (33.3%) was higher than from government to private facility (16.7%). The main reason (50%) for changing health facility was expectation for better service.