Health-seeking behaviour of Ethiopian caregivers when infants are unwell: a descriptive qualitative study

OBJECTIVES: To explore the health-seeking behaviour of Ethiopian caregivers when infants are unwell. DESIGN: A qualitative descriptive approach was employed using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Data were collected using semistructured interview guides. SETTING: The study was conducted in East Gojjam zone, Amhara region, northwest Ethiopia. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were selected using a maximum variation purposive sampling technique across the different study groups: caregivers, community members and healthcare providers. A total of 35 respondents, 27 individuals in the focus group discussions and 8 individuals in the in-depth interviews participated in the study. METHOD: In this study, a qualitative descriptive approach was employed to explore the health-seeking behaviour of caregivers. The data were collected from July to September 2019 and conventional content analysis was applied. RESULTS: The decision to take a sick child to healthcare facilities is part of a complex care-seeking process that involves many people. Some of the critical steps in the process are caregivers recognising that the child is ill, recognising the severity of the illness and deciding to take the child to a health institution based on the recognised symptoms and illness. In Ethiopia, a significant proportion of caregivers do not seek healthcare for childhood illness, and most caregivers do not know where and when to seek care for their child. This study points out that the health-seeking behaviour of caregivers can be influenced by different contextual factors such as caregivers’ disease understanding, access to health services and family pressures to seek care. CONCLUSIONS: Healthcare-seeking practice plays an important role in reducing the impact of childhood illnesses and mortality. In Ethiopia, home-based treatment practice and traditional healing methods are widely accepted. Therefore, contextual understanding of the caregivers’ health-seeking is important to design contextual healthcare interventions in the study area.