Abstract:
Background: World Health Organization (WHO) suggested that appropriate healthcare-seeking
practice can effectively save the lives of children. Even though appropriate healthcare-seeking
practice has a great impact to reduce childhood morbidity and mortality significant number of
children still die due to inappropriate healthcare seeking practice.
Objective: To assess healthcare-seeking behavior for common childhood illness and associated
factors among mothers/care givers of under five children in Nono district, Ethiopia, April 20-
30,2022.
Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Nono district on a sample of
575 mothers who had children with common childhood illness from April 20–30, 2022. A multistage
random sampling technique was used to select participants for the study. The data were collected
through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were
conducted for categorical variables in the form of frequency and percentage and for continuous
variables in the form of means and standard deviation. Hosmer Lemeshow goodness of fit test and
Variance inflation factor (VIF) test were used to see model fitness and the presence of multi co
linearity respectively. Variables with p-value ≤0.25 in bivariable binary logistic regression analysis
were included in the multivariable binary logistic regression analysis, adjusted odds ratio with 95%
confidence interval was used to measure the strength of associations and statistical significance was
declared at p-value <0.05.
Results: A total of 575 respondents, with a response rate of 97.78%, participated in the study. The
overall prevalence of appropriate healthcare seeking behavior of mothers or caregivers for common
childhood illnesses was 56.2% (95% CI: 52%, 60.3%).Illness being perceived as severe(AOR=9.405;
95%CI: 3.76-23.47), child age of 0-11months (AOR=2.415; 95%CI: 1.16-5.02),having male child
(AOR=2.115; 95%CI: 1.36,3.27), being member of community based health insurance (AOR=5.53; 95%CI:
3.21,9.53), monthly income less than 1000 ETB (AOR=0.287; 95%CI:0.099, 0.829) and residing in areas less
than half an hour to reach the nearest health facilities (AOR=9.617; 95%CI: 4.142 ,22.32), were independent
predictors of appropriate healthcare-seeking behavior for common childhood illnesses.
Conclusion: The prevalence of appropriate healthcare seeking behavior of mothers or caregivers for common
childhood illnesses was low. Child age 0-11month, having male child, perceived severity of childhood illness by
caregivers, being a member of community-based health insurance, monthly income, and distance from the health facility
were found to be predictors of appropriate health care seeking behavior for common childhood illnesses. Therefore,
health promotion strategies to enhance caregivers’ health care seeking behavior are critically important.
