Cargando…

Health Perceptions in Relation to Child Health and Mortality in a Rural Context, Sierra Leone: A Mixed Method Study

Child survival and wellbeing remain a global health challenge despite vast development within the area and a significant decline in mortality rates of children under five years of age. This study investigates the perceived causes of ill health and childhood mortality in the context of five villages...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Midtgaard Eriksen, Camilla, Lauridsen Kujabi, Monica, Sulaiman Kanu, Aminata, Gulis, Gabriel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7796266/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33406601
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010308
_version_ 1783634641509416960
author Midtgaard Eriksen, Camilla
Lauridsen Kujabi, Monica
Sulaiman Kanu, Aminata
Gulis, Gabriel
author_facet Midtgaard Eriksen, Camilla
Lauridsen Kujabi, Monica
Sulaiman Kanu, Aminata
Gulis, Gabriel
author_sort Midtgaard Eriksen, Camilla
collection PubMed
description Child survival and wellbeing remain a global health challenge despite vast development within the area and a significant decline in mortality rates of children under five years of age. This study investigates the perceived causes of ill health and childhood mortality in the context of five villages located in the Tonkolili district of Sierra Leone. Mixed method methodology was applied in this study consisting of both quantitative and qualitative data contribution. The quantitative part consisted of a household survey on child health, where 341 households, equivalent to 50.6% of the total number of households in the five villages, participated with a response rate of 100%. The qualitative part consisted of six semi structured interviews—one with a health care worker and five with mothers from each village. The main perceived reason for child morbidity was inadequate care of children related to personal hygiene of the child, hygiene and safety in the environment, in-sufficient nutrition, inadequate supervision and poor healthcare seeking behavior. Additionally, reasons given for disease included supernatural forces such as witchcraft. In relation to the survey, the perceived causes of child mortality for ill children in the villages were mainly malaria (33.6%), diarrhea (11.6%), pneumonia (8.6%), and unknown (26%). The observed symptoms of illness among children were fever (43.7%), cough and difficulty breathing (10.7%), frequent watery stool (10.3%) and no symptoms (20.3%). The perception of ill health in children was mainly associated with the parent’s ability to cater for the child’s physical needs, but also associated with external factors such as witchcraft and “God’s will”. In addition, biomedical causes for disease and supernatural causes for disease were seen to coexist.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7796266
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-77962662021-01-10 Health Perceptions in Relation to Child Health and Mortality in a Rural Context, Sierra Leone: A Mixed Method Study Midtgaard Eriksen, Camilla Lauridsen Kujabi, Monica Sulaiman Kanu, Aminata Gulis, Gabriel Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Child survival and wellbeing remain a global health challenge despite vast development within the area and a significant decline in mortality rates of children under five years of age. This study investigates the perceived causes of ill health and childhood mortality in the context of five villages located in the Tonkolili district of Sierra Leone. Mixed method methodology was applied in this study consisting of both quantitative and qualitative data contribution. The quantitative part consisted of a household survey on child health, where 341 households, equivalent to 50.6% of the total number of households in the five villages, participated with a response rate of 100%. The qualitative part consisted of six semi structured interviews—one with a health care worker and five with mothers from each village. The main perceived reason for child morbidity was inadequate care of children related to personal hygiene of the child, hygiene and safety in the environment, in-sufficient nutrition, inadequate supervision and poor healthcare seeking behavior. Additionally, reasons given for disease included supernatural forces such as witchcraft. In relation to the survey, the perceived causes of child mortality for ill children in the villages were mainly malaria (33.6%), diarrhea (11.6%), pneumonia (8.6%), and unknown (26%). The observed symptoms of illness among children were fever (43.7%), cough and difficulty breathing (10.7%), frequent watery stool (10.3%) and no symptoms (20.3%). The perception of ill health in children was mainly associated with the parent’s ability to cater for the child’s physical needs, but also associated with external factors such as witchcraft and “God’s will”. In addition, biomedical causes for disease and supernatural causes for disease were seen to coexist. MDPI 2021-01-04 2021-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7796266/ /pubmed/33406601 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010308 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Midtgaard Eriksen, Camilla
Lauridsen Kujabi, Monica
Sulaiman Kanu, Aminata
Gulis, Gabriel
Health Perceptions in Relation to Child Health and Mortality in a Rural Context, Sierra Leone: A Mixed Method Study
title Health Perceptions in Relation to Child Health and Mortality in a Rural Context, Sierra Leone: A Mixed Method Study
title_full Health Perceptions in Relation to Child Health and Mortality in a Rural Context, Sierra Leone: A Mixed Method Study
title_fullStr Health Perceptions in Relation to Child Health and Mortality in a Rural Context, Sierra Leone: A Mixed Method Study
title_full_unstemmed Health Perceptions in Relation to Child Health and Mortality in a Rural Context, Sierra Leone: A Mixed Method Study
title_short Health Perceptions in Relation to Child Health and Mortality in a Rural Context, Sierra Leone: A Mixed Method Study
title_sort health perceptions in relation to child health and mortality in a rural context, sierra leone: a mixed method study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7796266/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33406601
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010308
work_keys_str_mv AT midtgaarderiksencamilla healthperceptionsinrelationtochildhealthandmortalityinaruralcontextsierraleoneamixedmethodstudy
AT lauridsenkujabimonica healthperceptionsinrelationtochildhealthandmortalityinaruralcontextsierraleoneamixedmethodstudy
AT sulaimankanuaminata healthperceptionsinrelationtochildhealthandmortalityinaruralcontextsierraleoneamixedmethodstudy
AT gulisgabriel healthperceptionsinrelationtochildhealthandmortalityinaruralcontextsierraleoneamixedmethodstudy