Zhongguo quanke yixue (Jun 2023)
Influencing Factors of Non-treatment-seeking Behaviors for Perceived Morbidity within Two Weeks among Rural Residents in Western China
Abstract
Background Health service research has become an important research field in health industry of China recently. Existing studies mainly focus on the prevalence of perceived morbidity within two weeks and associated treatment-seeking behaviors as well as influencing factors in residents, but rarely involve in their non-treatment-seeking behaviors. Objective To understand the prevalence of non-treatment-seeking behaviors in rural residents with perceived morbidity within two weeks, and to explore and analyze the influencing factors, so as to put forward targeted suggestions. Methods In December 2019, by use of a multistage stratified cluster random sampling approach, 27 196 residents from four rural counties of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region were selected to attend an interviewer-administered, face-to-face survey using a self-developed Two-week Morbidity Questionnaire for understanding their demographics, health characteristics, and the availability and accessibility of medical and health services. A structural equation model built based on the survey results was used to analyze and test the influencing factors of non-treatment-seeking behaviors for two-week morbidity. Results Of the residents, 21 451 (78.88%) who effectively responded to the survey were included for analysis. The two-week morbidity in the respondents was 14.97% (3 212/21 451), and the prevalence of non-treatment-seeking behaviors was 69.46% (2 231/3 212). The prevalence of non-treatment-seeking behaviors for two-week morbidity varied by gender, age, education level, occupation, self-assessed health status, prevalence of chronic diseases, the number of days of bed rest for an illness, and the time to go to secondary or higher medical institutions (P<0.05). The fitting outcome of the structural equation model showed that the total effect of demographics on non-treatment-seeking behaviors was -0.101 (β=0.110), of which the direct effect was 0.107, and the indirect effect was -0.208. Health characteristics had a direct effect on non-treatment-seeking behaviors with a total effect of -0.210 (β=-0.313) . Conclusion The prevalence of non-treatment-seeking behaviors is relatively high in Ningxia rural residents, which is greatly affected by the health characteristics, indicating that they have a poor awareness of proactive health. It is suggested to take measures and formulate relevant policies according to the influencing factors to optimize the allocation of medical and health resources, so as to improve the utilization level of health services in this region.
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