Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Healthcare‑seeking behavior and its relating factors in South of Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Atefeh Khajeh
. Hossein Molavi Vardanjani
. Alireza Salehi 1
. Negin Rahmani
. Sajad Delavari 2

1 Research Center for Traditional Medicine and History of Medicine

2 Health Human Resources Research Center, School of Management and Information Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Health systems aimed to increase health utilization. Habits and behavior about
using health facilities, which is called health-seeking behavior, are different among different cultures
and influenced by different factors. The present study is aimed at investigating Iranian Southern
population health‑seeking behavior and its influencing factors.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Asample of 397 people was selected using proportional stratified random
sampling for this cross‑sectional study. They were asked to fill a questionnaire about their health‑seeking
behaviors (seeking treatment, inattention to treatment, and self-medication) and socioeconomic factors.
Data were analyzed using regression models including linear, ordinal, and logistic regressions.
RESULTS: Near 80% of participants reported self‑medication and most of them prefer public hospitals
as their first point of contact with health system compared to others such as family physician. Using
linear regression revealed seeking treatment has significant relationship with age (P = 0.037), living
place (P = 0.018), and having complementary insurance (P = 0.013). Self‑medication behavior has
relation with age (P = 0.015), gender (P = 0.039), education years (P = 0.031), living place (P = 0.005),
having complementary insurance (P = 0.001), and satisfaction with health‑care providers (P = 0.003)
in logistic regression. Using ordinal regression, it was found that inattention to treatment has
a relation with education years (P = 0.044), living place (P = 0.042), having complementary
insurance (P = 0.049), and severity of illness (P = 0.031).
CONCLUSION: Southern population does not accept family physician as the first point of interaction
with the health system, and they prefer to go to public hospitals directly. Moreover, self-medication
is a prevalent behavior among the population and thus their acceptance of health care is low. Based
on the findings, it can be suggested providing more satisfying health care, increasing insurance
coverage, and informing population could lead to better utilization of health‑care services.

Keywords

Acceptability of health care
healthcare‑seeking behavior
health‑care utilization
health facilities
Iran
patient acceptance of health care
self‑medication 
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 9, Issue 9
September 2019
Pages 1-7

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