%0 Journal Article
%T Socio-demographic determinants of Health care-seeking behaviour, self-reported illness and Self-evaluated Health status in Jamaica
%A Paul Andrew Bourne
%J International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine & Public Health
%D 2009
%I DRUNPP Sarajevo
%X Objectives: The objectives of this study were to examine self-rated health status and health care-seeking behaviour of Jamaicans; and to ascertain the socio-economic determinants of health care-seeking behaviour as well as good health status. Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study of 1,006 respondents who answered the question on health-seeking behaviour was used, and this was extracted from a larger nationally representative probability sampling survey of 6,783 Jamaicans. Descriptive statistics were used to provide background information on the demographic characteristics of the sample, chi-square was used to examine correlation between two non-metric variables and logistic regressions were employed to establish the predictors of health care-seeking behaviour and good self-rated health status. Findings: Of the sample, 40.5% was men and 59.5% women, with a mean age of 41.8 years (SD=27.6 years). Forty-four percent of the sample reported at least good health, 97% claimed that they have had some form of dysfunction; 6% reported being injured due to accidents, and only 11% indicated that their illness was not diagnosed by a health practitioner. Of those who indicated being diagnosed with a recurring ailment, 5.6% had arthritis, 20.5% hypertension, 12.4% diabetes mellitus, 9.5% asthma and 14.9% cold. Only 65.4% of the sample sought health care. In the multivariate analyses, health-care seeking behaviour of Jamaicans can be explained by age of respondents (OR=1.031, 95%CI=1.014, 1.049); area of residence (other towns OR=0.5, 95%CI=0.278, 0.902); log consumption (OR=3.605 95%CI=1.814, 7.167); marital status (married OR=0.468 95%CI=0.260, 0.843; divorced, separated or widowed, OR=0.383, 95% CI 0.163, 0.903) and social class (Upper class OR=0.319, 95%CI=0.106, 0.958). The health status of those who seek health care can be predicted duration of the individuals to carry out their normal activities (OR=0.594, 95%CI=0.413, 0.855); age of respondents (OR=0.967, 95%CI=0.949, 0.986) and area of residence (urban area OR=2.415, 1.195, 4.881; other towns OR=2.514, 1.162, 5.442). Self-rated health status was found to be a significant statistical predictor of self-reported dysfunction - good self-rated health status with reference to poor self-rated health status (OR=0.271, 95%CI=0.081, 0.915). This relationship disappears when socio-demographic characteristics were included. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggests that health service professionals need to increase awareness about the benefits of purchasing prescribed medication, and that this must be mor
%K Heathcare seeking behaviour
%K Health status
%K Sociodemographic correlates
%K Jamaica
%U http://www.iomcworld.com/ijcrimph/ijcrimph-v01-n04-01-f.htm