For the
mentally ill, cultural prescriptions and proscriptions play a major role in
their caregiver’s health-seeking behaviour. Most ill patients seek treatment in
hospital setting but still, culturally adaptive options are left open for
further exploration. This study sought to determine cultural adaptation
intervention in health seeking behaviour by
caregivers of people with mental illness in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The
study adopted the concurrent mixed methods design that integrated both the
qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study was anchored on the
constructivism theory and the health-seeking behaviour theory. The target
population was caregivers of people with mental illness drawn from Uasin Gishu
County and health care service providers in the mental unit of the Moi Teaching
and Referral Hospital (MTRH). A sample of 487 caregivers of people with mental
illness was selected purposively, while a census was conducted to identify 18
health care providers. Structured questionnaires and focus group discussions
were used to gather data from caregivers. Data from healthcare providers were
collected using interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed using
descriptive and inferential statistics, while qualitative data were analyzed
thematically. However, cultural adaptation intervention positively and
significantly affected health-seeking behaviour (b = 0.452, p< 0.05). The study revealed that negative constructions of
mental illness have enhanced the use of adaptive cultural interventions among caregivers.
This study contributes to the existing discourse on mental illness by leveraging the cultural role in
health-seeking behaviour. The study recommends that caregivers of people with
mental illness seek to exploit cultural adaptive factors to intervene in the relationships involving
mental illness.
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