Demographic and socio-economic factors influencing medical care-seeking behaviour among people who experienced mental health issues in Namibia

The current study originated from the effort to establish if the demographic and socio-economic factors influence the medical-care seeking behaviours of people who experienced mental health issues in Namibia. The study identifies geographically diverse populations in Namibia through the secondary data collected from the 2013 Namibia Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) to gain information regarding overall influences on medical-care seeking behaviours. The study employed a quantitative approach, and cross-sectional, analytical design. Thereafter, descriptive and inferential statistics, lineal regression and Chi-square were used to determine the demographic factors and socio-econmic factors influences on medical-care seeking behaviours of respondents with mental health problems. The study established an association between the medical care-seeking behaviour of respondents with mental illnesses and demographic factors such as age, gender, place of residence, and their regions. This association includes the socio-economic factors such as wealth and education. Women were found to develop mental challenges than their men counterparts, yet are likely to seek medical care than their men equivalents. Other results showed that mental-health illness were more common among women than their men counterparts and they are more likely to seek medical care compared with men. Although the age group from 15-44 is more susceptible to encounter mental health challenges, they are more likely to seek medical care than those in the age group from 45 and above. Rural resopndents are more likely to seek medical care compared to urban dwellers. It is important to study whether these influences are changing over time, and ii whether help seeking for mild and common disorders versus severe mental illness is becoming easier or harder as a result of the overall combination of influences.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Namibia

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Tjimuine, Kuara

• Demographic and socio-economic factors
• Medical-care seeking behaviours
• Mental health

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11070/3663

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.unam.edu.na:11070/3663