Factors Influencing Health Seeking Behaviour – Empirical Review

^Author: Edward Frimpong
Master of Art Sociology
College of Art & Social Sciences, KNUST Ghana
Email: frimedward@yahoo.com
Abstract
Quality of life changes over life span and health becomes one of the major concerns. What influences people to act variedly in connection to their health and the factors facilitating against the use of health services have been areas of interest to researchers. There is still a growing concern either on the ‘end point’ (utilisation of the formal system, or health care seeking behaviour) or those which emphasise the ‘process’ (illness response, or health seeking behaviour). But what informs people to decide on the type and source of health care poses greater challenge to most individuals: A situation which makes people become sceptical about their health decisions. Kwabre East District of Ashanti was used as a case in point in this study to examine the factors influencing health seeking behaviours and measures that can be used to improve upon people’s health conditions. Ninety (90) questionnaires were distributed to the people in Kwabre East District of Ashanti. Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews which were then coded and input into a statistical software package before analyses were made. Descriptive statistics and regression were employed in the analysis for easy understanding and reader comprehension. The study revealed that malaria is the most common illness affecting the people in the district. The health facilities commonly available in the district are hospitals and health centres. It was seen that members in the district mostly seek healthcare from hospitals and health centres and their reasons for provider choice was proximity. Again, a reasonable number of people having valid NHIS cards did not access healthcare with them. Establishment of healthcare facilities in most communities cost of healthcare being very low, training of more healthcare professionals, and rehabilitation of road networks leading to healthcare facilities, availability of logistics and consumables at provider sites, and cooperation between health professionals & religious leaders are measures to improve upon health seeking behaviours of the people. The study concluded that even though one factor leads a person to go for a particular treatment, the people access health care simultaneously from all treatment centres.
Keywords: Health Seeking, Health Management, Health Factors

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