A mother’s choice: a qualitative study of mothers’ health seeking behaviour for their children with acute diarrhoea

Abstract Background Diarrhoea presents a considerable health risk to young children and is one of the leading causes of infant mortality. Although proven cost-effective interventions exist, South Africa is yet to reach the Sustainable Development Goals set for the elimination of preventable under-fi...

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Main Authors: Lucy Cunnama, Ayako Honda
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2016-11-01
Series:BMC Health Services Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-016-1911-7
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spelling doaj-e3260b030f16453eb755adc5c8ef13f92020-11-24T23:55:28ZengBMCBMC Health Services Research1472-69632016-11-0116111110.1186/s12913-016-1911-7A mother’s choice: a qualitative study of mothers’ health seeking behaviour for their children with acute diarrhoeaLucy Cunnama0Ayako Honda1Health Economics Unit, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape TownHealth Economics Unit, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape TownAbstract Background Diarrhoea presents a considerable health risk to young children and is one of the leading causes of infant mortality. Although proven cost-effective interventions exist, South Africa is yet to reach the Sustainable Development Goals set for the elimination of preventable under-five mortality and water-borne diseases. The rural study area in the Eastern Cape of South Africa continues to have a parallel health system comprising traditional and modern healthcare services. It is in this setting that this study aimed to qualitatively examine the beliefs surrounding and perceived quality of healthcare accessed for children’s acute diarrhoea. Methods Purposive sampling was used to select participants for nine focus-group-discussions with mothers of children less than 5 years old and 11 key-informant-interviews with community members and traditional and modern practitioners. The focus-group-discussions and interviews were held to explore the reasons why mothers seek certain types of healthcare for children with diarrhoea. Data was analysed using manual thematic coding methods. Results It was found that seeking healthcare from traditional practitioners is deeply ingrained in the culture of the society. People’s beliefs about the causative agents of diarrhoea are at the heart of seeking care from traditional practitioners, often in order to treat supposed supernatural causes. A combination of care-types is acceptable to the community, but not necessarily to modern practitioners, who are concerned about the inclusion of unknown ingredients and harmful substances in some traditional medicines, which could be toxic to children. These factors highlight the complexity of regulating traditional medicine. Conclusion South African traditional practitioners can be seen as a valuable human resource, especially as they are culturally accepted in their communities. However due to the variability of practices amongst traditional practitioners and some reluctance on the part of modern practitioners regulation and integration may prove complex.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-016-1911-7South AfricaPerceived qualityHealthcare accessChild-healthRuralTraditional practitioners
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Lucy Cunnama
Ayako Honda
spellingShingle Lucy Cunnama
Ayako Honda
A mother’s choice: a qualitative study of mothers’ health seeking behaviour for their children with acute diarrhoea
BMC Health Services Research
South Africa
Perceived quality
Healthcare access
Child-health
Rural
Traditional practitioners
author_facet Lucy Cunnama
Ayako Honda
author_sort Lucy Cunnama
title A mother’s choice: a qualitative study of mothers’ health seeking behaviour for their children with acute diarrhoea
title_short A mother’s choice: a qualitative study of mothers’ health seeking behaviour for their children with acute diarrhoea
title_full A mother’s choice: a qualitative study of mothers’ health seeking behaviour for their children with acute diarrhoea
title_fullStr A mother’s choice: a qualitative study of mothers’ health seeking behaviour for their children with acute diarrhoea
title_full_unstemmed A mother’s choice: a qualitative study of mothers’ health seeking behaviour for their children with acute diarrhoea
title_sort mother’s choice: a qualitative study of mothers’ health seeking behaviour for their children with acute diarrhoea
publisher BMC
series BMC Health Services Research
issn 1472-6963
publishDate 2016-11-01
description Abstract Background Diarrhoea presents a considerable health risk to young children and is one of the leading causes of infant mortality. Although proven cost-effective interventions exist, South Africa is yet to reach the Sustainable Development Goals set for the elimination of preventable under-five mortality and water-borne diseases. The rural study area in the Eastern Cape of South Africa continues to have a parallel health system comprising traditional and modern healthcare services. It is in this setting that this study aimed to qualitatively examine the beliefs surrounding and perceived quality of healthcare accessed for children’s acute diarrhoea. Methods Purposive sampling was used to select participants for nine focus-group-discussions with mothers of children less than 5 years old and 11 key-informant-interviews with community members and traditional and modern practitioners. The focus-group-discussions and interviews were held to explore the reasons why mothers seek certain types of healthcare for children with diarrhoea. Data was analysed using manual thematic coding methods. Results It was found that seeking healthcare from traditional practitioners is deeply ingrained in the culture of the society. People’s beliefs about the causative agents of diarrhoea are at the heart of seeking care from traditional practitioners, often in order to treat supposed supernatural causes. A combination of care-types is acceptable to the community, but not necessarily to modern practitioners, who are concerned about the inclusion of unknown ingredients and harmful substances in some traditional medicines, which could be toxic to children. These factors highlight the complexity of regulating traditional medicine. Conclusion South African traditional practitioners can be seen as a valuable human resource, especially as they are culturally accepted in their communities. However due to the variability of practices amongst traditional practitioners and some reluctance on the part of modern practitioners regulation and integration may prove complex.
topic South Africa
Perceived quality
Healthcare access
Child-health
Rural
Traditional practitioners
url http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-016-1911-7
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