IJCM_15A: Health-seeking behaviour among Fishermen community mothers of under-five children on childcare– A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Globally in 2020 an estimated 5 million children under5 years died mostly from preventable and treatable causes. India ranks second worldwide in under5 mortality (WHO2020). Health of the children is strongly dependent on parental healthcare behaviour Fishermen-community possesses unique characteristics of a folk-society, Major portion of the life of fishermen is spent at sea, mothers assume a vital place with regard to the upbringing of the children. Objective: To study the health-seeking behaviour among Fishermen- community mothers of under-five children during acute illness and factors associated with it Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among 100 Mothers of Under five children in a Fishermen community, Kovalam, Chengalpattu district of Tamil Nadu over a period of 3months (October 2023–November 2023). Data collection was done using interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaire, statistical analysis was done using SPSS v21.0 Results: In total, 100 mothers with mean age of 27± 3.3 years participated in the study, all of them reported of some health morbidity. The proportion of health seeking behaviour in terms of appropriate and prompt care among the study population was 42%. The reason for delayed health care seeking among the participants were due to over-the-counter drugs(33%), self-medication(17%) and home remedies(8%). Among them 84% sought health care from private health facility. Appropriate and prompt care has found to be significantly associated with the age of the child less than 2 years (OR-3.485,95%CI-1.449-8.382), educational status of the mother (above high-school) (OR-3,95%CI-1.328-6.977), extended family type (OR- 2.679,95%CI-1.151-6.233) and perception about severity of illness during an episode of acute illness. Conclusion: Appropriate Health-seeking behaviour and seeking prompt care among parents of children was inadequate. Utilization of public health facility was less. Hence, steps can be taken to sensitize the mothers about the services available in the public health care facility.