TY - JOUR
T1 - Relatives’ advice and health care-seeking behaviour in Oman
AU - Al-Mandhari, Ahmed
AU - Al-Adawi, Samir
AU - Al-Zakwani, Ibrahim
AU - Al-Shafaee, Mohammed
AU - Eloul, Liyam
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the patients and staff of the Family Medicine and Public Health Department at Sultan Qaboos University and the Ministry of Health whose active support made this research possible. Our thanks also go to the medical students who contributed to the data collection as part of their community training and to Marcus Thomson for providing technical support and constructive criticism to an earlier version of this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2009, Sultan Qaboos University. All rights reserved.
PY - 2009/12
Y1 - 2009/12
N2 - Objectives: It has been well established that pathways to care are considerably modified by local, social and psychological characteristics as well as the doctor-patient relationship. Scant attention has been paid to the role of family advice in care-seeking. In Omani society, traditional family values and a collective mindset are the norm rather than the exception. This paper examines how family advice affects the trajectory of care seeking. Methodology: During 2006-2007, data was collected through face-to-face interviews among a randomised sample of patients seeking medical consultation in various primary health care centres in the northern region of Oman. This study enrolled a total of 493 patients. The association between the advice of family members as a reason to seek health care and other predictors was analysed using multivariable logistic regression. Results: The data suggest that the advice of family members in care-seeking is strongly associated with gender, education, history of chronic illness, previous exposure to traditional medicine, and health education, as well as the history of immunisation. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the advice of family members remains a strong catalyst for care-seeking in Oman. The psychosocial factors affecting care-seeking leading to underutilisation of services or otherwise are discussed.
AB - Objectives: It has been well established that pathways to care are considerably modified by local, social and psychological characteristics as well as the doctor-patient relationship. Scant attention has been paid to the role of family advice in care-seeking. In Omani society, traditional family values and a collective mindset are the norm rather than the exception. This paper examines how family advice affects the trajectory of care seeking. Methodology: During 2006-2007, data was collected through face-to-face interviews among a randomised sample of patients seeking medical consultation in various primary health care centres in the northern region of Oman. This study enrolled a total of 493 patients. The association between the advice of family members as a reason to seek health care and other predictors was analysed using multivariable logistic regression. Results: The data suggest that the advice of family members in care-seeking is strongly associated with gender, education, history of chronic illness, previous exposure to traditional medicine, and health education, as well as the history of immunisation. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the advice of family members remains a strong catalyst for care-seeking in Oman. The psychosocial factors affecting care-seeking leading to underutilisation of services or otherwise are discussed.
KW - Arab/Islamic
KW - Care-seeking behavior
KW - Clinical population
KW - Oman
KW - Relatives’ advice
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M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85015503511
SN - 2075-051X
VL - 9
SP - 264
EP - 271
JO - Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal
JF - Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal
IS - 3
ER -