Maternal recognition and health care-seeking behavior for acute respiratory infection in children in a rural Ecuadorian county
Luque, J.S.; Whiteford, L.M.; Tobin, G.A.
Maternal and Child Health Journal 12(3): 287-297
2008
ISSN/ISBN: 1092-7875 PMID: 17673964 DOI: 10.1007/s10995-007-0249-5Document Number: 200372
To identify the factors which determine timely health care-seeking behaviors for childhood ARIs. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to a non-random purposive sample of 91 female caregivers (age 18-57 years), and was analyzed using SPSS. In addition, six focus group discussions with female caregivers and 25 in-depth interviews with members from the health care setting were conducted. The primary obstacles reported for timely health care-seeking among survey respondents were money for medicines (n=29, 32%), transportation fares (n=19, 21%), and restrictive hours of the health centers (n=13, 14%). The median household salary reported was $100 per month. There was an overall lack of recognition of the biomedical signs and symptoms of serious lower respiratory infections independent of socioeconomic status. Based on the study findings, the following recommendations are offered: (1) public health campaigns need to better address appropriate home health care management of childhood health and illness to improve maternal health-seeking behavior for ARIs; (2) provincial health authorities need to adhere to regular hours of operation, expand clinic hours and increase staff; (3) health posts should establish better policies for disbursement of antibiotics and ensure that patients follow prescribed regimens; and (4) through partnerships with economic development organizations and the private sector, there will be increased employment opportunities.
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