Treatment Seeking Patterns among Dengue Fever Patients: A Qualitative Study
Abstract: Incidence of dengue
fever is increasing drastically and has become a major public health problem
globally. The reason patients are late in seeking medical treatment should be
identified in order to prevent complications which can be avoided to produce a
good prognosis. This study was conducted to find the pattern of treatment
seeking behaviour among dengue fever patients and their influencing factors
using a health utilisation model.
Methods: Data on health seeking behaviour were collected among the dengue
fever patients who were admitted to Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital Bandung
from September–October 2014. The data were collected through in-depth interview
with patients who were diagnosed with dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic
fever. All the interviews were recorded using an audio recorder. The recordings
were transcribed and then translated into English and analyzed using thematic
analysis.
Results: Nine patients were interviewed. The age of the patients ranged
between 17 to 46 years. Altogether 7
patterns were identified with patients treatment seeking behavior. Most of them
took longer steps to reach adequate care with blood examination. These longer
steps, caused by lack of facilities to perform blood test in primary health
care facilities, no bed for admission and also low skills of health care
providers in diagnosing patients. The primary health care facility played an
important role in the delay of patients acquiring definite care for their
dengue fever.
Conclusions: Health care seeking behavior is hampered by the inadequacy
of primary health care facilities to provide adequate services to dengue
patients.
Keywords: Dengue fever; dengue
haemorrgic Fever; treatment seeking pattern
Author: Tharani Krisnian,
Bachti Alisjahbana, Irvan Afriandi
Journal Code: jpkedokterangg170151
