Abstract
BackgroundThis qualitative study sets to fill a gap in knowledge by exploring the health seeking behaviour of rural women living in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt). The existing literature on the oPt has so far focused on unravelling the country’s epidemiological and health system profile, but has largely neglected the assessment of factors shaping people’s decisions on health care use.MethodsBased on a conceptual framework rooted in the Anderson behavioural model, we conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with purposely selected women and seven key informant interviews in three purposely selected villages in Ramallah district.ResultsOur findings indicate that women delay seeking professional care, use self-prescribed medications and home treatment, and do not use preventive and educational health services. Their health seeking behaviour is the result of the interplay of several factors: their gendered socio-cultural role; their health beliefs; financial affordability and geographical accessibility; their perceptions of the quality of care; and their perceived health needs.ConclusionsFindings are discussed in the light of their policy implications, suggesting that adequate health policy planning ought to take into considerations socio-cultural dimensions beyond those directly pertinent to the health care system.
Highlights
This qualitative study sets to fill a gap in knowledge by exploring the health seeking behaviour of rural women living in the occupied Palestinian territories
While we are confident that we could have not done any better given the circumstances under which the study was conducted, we are aware that women living in very remote areas of the West Bank (WB) might experience more extreme conditions than those shared by women in our study
In conclusion, with this study, we indicated that a complexity of factors, i.e. socio-cultural norms and values, geographical and financial accessibility, and health system structures, including quality of care, shape women’s decisions on health care seeking in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt)
Summary
This qualitative study sets to fill a gap in knowledge by exploring the health seeking behaviour of rural women living in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt). Several authors have drawn attention to the health conditions of people living in the occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt). They have described the deteriorating living conditions of the Palestinian population, which affect both their well-being and their health status. They have provided a critical description of the current Palestinian health system, with a focus on maternal health and chronic diseases [1,2,3,4,5].
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