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Abstract Background The eastern and western regions of China are different in many ways such as socioeconomic characteristics and health resource distribution. This study aimed to explore the outpatient health-seeking behavior and compare the influencing factors of residents in Zhejiang and Qinghai Province, which represent the situation in eastern...
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Context 1
... was an economically developed province located in southeast China, and its per capita disposable income was ¥ 38529.0 in 2016. Qinghai was an economically developing province located in the northwestern hinterland of China, and its per capita disposable income was ¥ 17301.8 in 2016 (Table 1, [10]). ...Citations
... Our study found that women were more likely to receive outpatient care than hospitalization compared to men, and previous ndings have also shown that women have more serious health problems but report less frequent visits to the doctor compared to men, and that nancial constraints, mistrust of doctors and health care costs, unfriendly treatment environments, and women's traditional attitudes toward health and illness are the main barriers to health care seeking [28]. In our study, people with poorer self-assessed health status were more likely to go for outpatient or hospitalization medical care, a nding that has been con rmed in previous studies [26,29]. People with poorer self-assessed health status tend to be relatively sicker or have more severe physical symptoms, and they are more able to recognize the severity of their illnesses and therefore are willing to go to the hospital for examination and treatment. ...
Background
In the face of the increasing rate of population aging, the prevalence of chronic diseases among middle-aged and elderly people is also rapidly increasing. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between factors influencing outpatient and hospitalization health-seeking behaviors among middle-aged and elderly people with chronic diseases.
Methods
The study population was consecutive patients with chronic diseases who participated in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) baseline and follow-up surveys in 2018. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to analyze the independent and common factors affecting outpatient visits and hospitalization visits.
Results
A total of 14,036 chronic disease patients aged 45 years and older were included as survey respondents in this study, only 18.87% had outpatient visits in the past month and 19.24% had hospitalization visits in the past year. The adjusted model showed that age, sex, education level, type of residence, and self-reported health level were factors influencing the outpatient health-seeking behavior of chronic disease patients (p < 0.05), and age, sex, type of residence, hukou type, monthly income, type of health insurance, and self-reported health level were factors influencing hospitalization health-seeking behavior of chronic diseases (p < 0.05). Age, sex, and self-reported health level were common influences on outpatient and hospitalization health-seeking behaviors of patients with chronic diseases. Education level was a separate influencing factor for outpatient visits, and hukou type, monthly income, and health insurance were separate influencing factors for hospitalization visits. Type of residence was a multi-categorical variable with differential effects on different health-seeking behaviors.
Conclusions
The chronic disease patients have lower health-seeking behaviors, and this study suggests that there are similarities and differences in the factors affecting outpatient and inpatient health-seeking behaviors of chronic disease patients. In order to improve patients' health-seeking behavior, it is important to identify and take appropriate measures to intervene on the influencing factors in time.
... The urban-rural system in China has led to challenges for rural residents in accessing and utilizing quality health care resources compared with their urban counterparts. This discrepancy arises from the relative disadvantages faced by rural residents in both geographical [1,2] and financial [3,4] aspects, resulting in a shortage of diagnostic and therapeutic equipment [5] and a lack of high-quality health care professionals [6]. Therefore, there is a need to make concerted efforts to enhance the accessibility of health care services in rural areas of China [7,8]. ...
Background
Online medical consultation can serve as a valuable means for rural residents to access high-quality health care resources, thereby mitigating the geographic and economic disadvantages prevalent in rural areas. Nevertheless, due to lower cognitive abilities, rural residents often face challenges in trusting and making effective use of online medical consultations. More likely, adopting a bounded rational decision-making model that facilitates the “offline-to-online” trust transfer could prove to be a potentially effective approach. This strategy aims to encourage less technologically experienced rural residents to trust and make use of online medical consultations.
Objective
This study aims to characterize the status of “offline-to-online” trust transfer among rural residents in the context of internet health care, and analyze its direct impact on facilitating the utilization of online medical consultation. Additionally, we investigate the family spillover effect of “offline-to-online” trust transfer in promoting the use of online medical consultation among rural family members, considering its distributional effect across various education levels of the population.
Methods
A multistage stratified random sampling method was used to survey participants in rural areas of China from July to September 2021, encompassing a total of 2597 rural residents from 960 rural households. Propensity score values were estimated using logit regression, and the propensity score matching method, using the K-nearest neighbor matching, radius matching, and kernel matching methods, was applied to create matched treatment and control samples of rural residents based on their experience of “offline-to-online” trust transfer. Subsequently, we calculated average treatment effect scores to compare the differences in utilizing online medical consultation between the treatment and control rural samples.
Results
As many as 551/960 (57.4%) rural residents experienced an “offline-to-online” trust transfer, with a higher likelihood observed in the older population with lower levels of education and higher satisfaction with local health care services. Furthermore, rural residents who underwent “offline-to-online” trust transfer were 37%-40% more likely to utilize online medical consultation compared with those who did not experience this trust transfer. Additionally, family members of householders who underwent “offline-to-online” trust transfer were 25%-28% more likely to utilize online medical consultation than those whose householders did not experience this trust transfer. Notably, when compared with populations with high-level education, the “offline-to-online” trust transfer had more significant direct and spillover effects on the utilization of online medical consultation services among rural residents with low-level education.
Conclusions
To enhance the “offline-to-online” trust transfer among rural residents and its facilitation in their utilization of online medical consultation, as well as other mobile health (mHealth) and ubiquitous health (uHealth) services, we recommend that online health care providers adopt a “patient-oriented” service model. This approach aims to elevate rural residents’ satisfaction with local health care services and harness the trust-building functions inherent in physician-patient relationships and among family members.
... This is not surprising given that convenience and easy access is perhaps the most visible advantage of community-based primary care facilities over hospitals [6]. Previous studies showed that distance is a significant influencing factor on the patient choice of care providers [9,34]. The Chinese government intends to make CHCs available to the entire populations within a 15-minute walking distance [6]. ...
Objectives:
In China, it is up to the patients to choose between hospitals and primary care facilities to initiate their medical care. This study aimed to determine the association between patient experience with community health centres (CHCs, a predominant provider of community-based primary care) and patient preference of taking community-based primary care facilities as a first choice for medical attention.
Methods:
A questionnaire survey was conducted on 1919 patients who sought medical care in 55 CHCs in Wuhan, China. Respondents were asked to identify their preferred first choice for medical attention and rate their satisfaction with eight aspects of CHCs (basic facility, medical equipment, medical services, nursing services, treatment process, courtesy and responsiveness, time spent with medical doctor, pharmacy services). Multivariate logistic regression models were established to determine the association between the CHC experience and the first choice of providers after adjustment for variations in sociodemographic characteristics.
Results:
Over 90% of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the eight aspects of CHCs; but only 75% preferred to take community-based primary care facilities as their first choice for medical attention. Those who were older and had a lower income were more likely to choose community-based primary care facilities. Geographic proximity and higher levels of satisfaction with the basic facility, courtesy and responsiveness, and pharmacy services in the CHCs were associated with a higher likelihood of taking community-based primary care facilities as a first choice for medical attention.
Conclusion:
The consumers of CHCs are generally satisfied with the services they received. However, one quarter of the CHC patients are yet to be convinced to accept community-based primary care facilities as a preferred first provider for medical care. Geographic proximity and patient experience with CHCs are associated with the patient choice.
... Health-seeking behavior is the performance of actions to seek medical help for people who are at potential risk of contracting the disease or who have symptoms of the disease [19]. Thus, accurate measurement of these phenomena must be taken for proactive public health preventive measures in Brazil. ...
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has spread rapidly worldwide, being life-changing and affecting anxiety, misconceptions, knowledge, and people's health behavioral intentions, which is related to COVID-19 prevention practices adherence. Thus, it is relevant to test whether related measures would have a factor or network model in different populations, and know its’ relations as complex systems. The goal of this research is to test whether the Fear and Health-Seeking Behavioral Intentions Scales follow a network or factor model in a Brazilian sample, in addition to an attempt to understand COVID-19 psychological impacts and its relations in a Brazilian sample during the first year of the pandemic. To do so, we used recent developments in the field of network and psychometrics, with a sample of 476 Brazilians collected during the first pandemic year. We found evidence for a network model using two approaches. In addition, we used the network model to see the relationship between those variables, and the findings are discussed. We highlighted the importance of COVID-19 knowledge, misinformation, and prevention practices adherence relation in the network structure.
... Knowledge at the sensory stage is a low level category of knowledge. Behavioral knowledge level affects perception, mindset, adaptation, and decisionmaking [36], [37]. Thus, parents who have a low level of knowledge or at the sensory stage tend to be less able to plan their children's diet patterns. ...
Background: Based on the Indonesian Toddler Nutrition Status Survey in 2021, it was found that the stunting rate in Indonesia reached 24.4%, which means there were 5.33 million indicated stunting. Objective: The purpose of this study was to detect the causative factors and effectiveness of stunting interventions in the E stunting application. Methods: The type of the research is quantitative analytic with cross sectional approach using double linear regression analytic test with p = 0.05. The difference test used an unpaired sample test analytic by looking at the difference in mean in the control and treatment groups. The population uses totality sampling with the rule of thumb technique. This research instrument uses a minimum diet diversity questionnaire, diet diversity, parenting model, as well as a questionnaire with a Likert scale and has been through validity and reliability tests. Results: The results of the determinant coefficient test have a relationship between the independent and dependent variables, while Adjusted R2 = 0.803 which means 80.3% of all variables affect the z score in children, while the difference test result obtained a result of sig 2 tailed = 0.001 and the value of Sig Levene's test for equality variance of 0.44 > 0.001 Conclusion: There is an effect of frequency of eating, number of types of food, eating culture, history of breastfeeding, complementary feeding, perception, knowledge of the z score (stunting events). And E stunting is effective in assessing the causative factors and treatment in cases of infants with stunting
... The result was the same as the study by Shao, which found that migrants with moderate and severe status of symptoms have a higher likelihood of seeking healthcare services (49). This result was also the same as the study that showed people who thought their illness was serious were more likely to visit a doctor (50). This was different from a previous study, which showed that old-aged migrants in better health condition had a significantly sufficient utilization rate (51). ...
Due to the acceleration of China's urbanization, the number of migrant older with children (MOC) continued to increase. This study aimed to clarify the effects of childcare disagreement with children, social support, and health status on unmet healthcare-seeking behavior among the MOC to Jinan, China. A cross-sectional study included 656 MOC (36.3% men and 63.7% women) using multi-stage cluster random sampling in Jinan, China. Childcare disagreement was evaluated by the differences between parents and grandparents on the diet, dressing, education, and childcare consumption. Social support was assessed using the social support rating scale (SSRS). Descriptive analysis, chi-squared test, and binary logistic regression were applied to analyze the association between childcare disagreement with children, social support, health status, and unmet healthcare-seeking behavior of the MOC. Approximately 41.3% of participants had unmet healthcare-seeking behavior. Logistic regression analysis showed that the MOC whose health status compared to last year get better were more likely to have unmet healthcare-seeking behavior, while who were women, had partial will of migration, hired a nanny, had smaller childcare disagreement with children on dressing, had smaller childcare disagreement with children on consumption, and had moderate social support, were less likely to experience unmet healthcare-seeking behavior. Recommendations were given to the government and family members to improve the health services-seeking behavior of the MOC.
... For example, giving a massage to increase appetite and a massage to lower the appetite. This opinion is supported by research (Huang et al., 2019;Kayame et al., 2014;Widayanti et al., 2020) that beliefs and beliefs influence the process of forming behavioural elements of thoughts and feelings that can be seen from attitudes and perceptions when seeking health help. The stages of thought and feeling described by Huang M, Zhang H, Gu Y, et al (Huang et al., 2019) are behaviours based on knowledge, attitudes, perceptions of beliefs and experiences that come from oneself and others that are carried out by considering all the risks. ...
... This opinion is supported by research (Huang et al., 2019;Kayame et al., 2014;Widayanti et al., 2020) that beliefs and beliefs influence the process of forming behavioural elements of thoughts and feelings that can be seen from attitudes and perceptions when seeking health help. The stages of thought and feeling described by Huang M, Zhang H, Gu Y, et al (Huang et al., 2019) are behaviours based on knowledge, attitudes, perceptions of beliefs and experiences that come from oneself and others that are carried out by considering all the risks. This stage is closely related to the knowledge and experience gained from community leaders who influence the community system (Kusumo et al., 2022). ...
This study aims to determine the factors that affect health-seeking behaviour in parents who have children aged 3-5 years who are stunting and obese indications during the pandemic. This research is quantitative analytics with a cross-sectional approach. The Independent variable is health-seeking behaviour and the dependent variable is education, knowledge, income, affordability of health facilities and health workers, family support, community support, and belief. The population of 147, sampling using totality sampling with inclusion criteria. The instrument to use questionnaires health-seeking behaviour list with Linkert scale closed questions through validity and reliability tests. The analytics process uses a double-liner regression with p= 0.05. Meanwhile, for models using SEM by looking at the value of the goodness of fit indicator. Overall, the independent variables together affect the health-seeking behaviour by 0.705 with an adjusted R of 0.720 which means that the independent variable affects the dependent variable together by 72% while 18% is influenced by other factors. The modelling results is finding that the model presented as a whole can be accepted as a model for the form of health-seeking behaviour during the pandemic with Chi-Square (x2)= 1.39, Probability= 0.278, CMIN/DF=1.189, RMSEA=0.041, GFI=0.921, AGFI=0.934
... Third, Korea is one of the most densely populated countries among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries (34). In a recent study conducted in China, the cohort used included 15 provinces, including Beijing (1,324 people/km 2 ), which has a high population density and Qinghai (8.2 people/km 2 ), which is less densely populated (9,35,36). This study covered seven metropolitan cities in Korea that have a very high population density at more than 1,000 people/km 2 (37). ...
Objectives: The primary purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between the first occurrence of hospitalization for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and particulate matter less than 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5) exposure, considering average PM2.5 concentration and the frequency of high PM2.5 concentration simultaneously.
Methods: We used large-scale cohort data from seven metropolitan cities in South Korea. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using the Cox proportional-hazards model, including annual average PM2.5 and annual hours of PM2.5 concentration exceeding 55.5 μg/m ³ (FH55).
Results: We found that the risk was elevated by 11.6% (95% CI, 9.7–13.6) for all CVD per 2.9 μg/m ³ increase of average PM2.5. In addition, a 94-h increase in FH55 increased the risk of all CVD by 3.8% (95% CI, 2.8–4.7). Regarding stroke, we found that people who were older and had a history of hypertension were more vulnerable to PM2.5 exposure.
Conclusion: Based on the findings, we conclude that accurate forecasting, information dissemination, and timely warning of high concentrations of PM2.5 at the national level may reduce the risk of CVD occurrence.
... Furthermore, Serwaa and colleagues (2020) recorded high COVID-19 knowledge in their Ghanaian sample, where knowledge of COVID-19 was significantly associated with the educational level of the participants. Therefore, in a Brazilian population, the COVID-19 could cause different kinds of healthseeking practices (i.e., the performance of actions to seek medical help for people who are at potential risk of contracting the disease or who have symptoms of the disease; Huang et al., 2019), deepen fear and anxiety, and create heightened misconceptions leading to practices that may adversely complicate both the physical and psychological health of citizens. ...
SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread rapidly worldwide with life-changing consequences. and affecting anxiety, misconceptions, knowledge, and individuals’ behavioral health intentions, which is related to COVID-19 prevention practices adherence. Thus, it is relevant to develop psychometric measures for COVID-19 anxiety, misconceptions, knowledge, and individuals’ behavioral health intentions on different populations. The goal of our research is to seek evidence of validity and reliability of the Fear and Health-Seeking Behavioral Intentions Scales in a Brazilian sample. To do so, we used recent developments in the field of network psychometrics, with a recruited sample of 476 Brazilians collected at the beginning of the pandemic. We found a four-dimensional structure in the reflective variables, forming a theoretically sound structure with good psychometric properties. Herein, we discuss these findings using network analysis to see the relationship between those variables. We also highlighted the importance of COVID-19 anxiety this anxiety may increase adherence and thus prevent COVID-19 infection.
... The underlying assumption is that health is influenced by behavior and behavior itself is subject to modification, as influenced by external and internal factors [22]. Proxies used for health seeking behavior in the literature include, healthcare consumption patterns, provider visits, and self-reported care seeking [23][24][25][26]. ...
Background:
The West African Ebola epidemic of 2013-2016 killed nearly 4,000 Sierra Leoneans and devastated health infrastructure across West Africa. Changes in health seeking behavior (HSB) during the outbreak resulted in dramatic underreporting and substantial declines in hospital presentations to public health facilities, resulting in an estimated tens of thousands of additional maternal, infant, and adult deaths per year. Sierra Leone's Kenema District, a major Ebola hotspot, is also endemic for Lassa fever (LF), another often-fatal hemorrhagic disease. Here we assess the impact of the West African Ebola epidemic on health seeking behaviors with respect to presentations to the Kenema Government Hospital (KGH) Lassa Ward, which serves as the primary health care referral center for suspected Lassa fever cases in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone.
Methodology/principal findings:
Presentation frequencies for suspected Lassa fever presenting to KGH or one of its referral centers from 2011-2019 were analyzed to consider the potential impact of the West African Ebola epidemic on presentation patterns. There was a significant decline in suspected LF cases presenting to KGH following the epidemic, and a lower percentage of subjects were admitted to the KGH Lassa Ward following the epidemic. To assess general HSB, a questionnaire was developed and administered to 200 residents from 8 villages in Kenema District. Among 194 completed interviews, 151 (78%) of respondents stated they felt hospitals were safer post-epidemic with no significant differences noted among subjects according to religious background, age, gender, or education. However, 37 (19%) subjects reported decreased attendance at hospitals since the epidemic, which suggests that trust in the healthcare system has not fully rebounded. Cost was identified as a major deterrent to seeking healthcare.
Conclusions/significance:
Analysis of patient demographic data suggests that fewer individuals sought care for Lassa fever and other febrile illnesses in Kenema District after the West African Ebola epidemic. Re-establishing trust in health care services will require efforts beyond rebuilding infrastructure and require concerted efforts to rebuild the trust of local residents who may be wary of seeking healthcare post epidemic.
