Browsing by Author "Njiru, Joy Wendo"

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    Health-Seeking Behavior for Pneumonia Among Caregivers of Children Under Five Years at Embu Teaching and Referral Hospital, Embu County, Kenya
    (International Academic Journal of Health, Medicine and Nursing (IAJHMN), 2026-04) Njiru, Joy Wendo; Bett, Sarah; Githemo, Grace
    Background: All over the world,pneumonia is responsible for most of the ailments and mortalities among the under five years population.(Perin et al., 2022). Recent research conducted in Kenya revealed showed there is low seeking of care among the under five years population with respiratory diseases like pneumonia as parents attempt to self-medicate the children first. Additionally, due to lack of timely and appropriate treatment, the respiratory conditions complicate leading to need for admission and longer hospital stay for pediatric patients.(Emukule et al., 2023)Study objective: To establish the determinants of health seeking behavior for pneumonia among caregivers of children under five years at Embu Teaching and Referral Hospital.Methods: This was as cross sectional study where 196 caregivers were consecutively sampled. Interviewer administered questionnaire was used.Frequencies and percentages were used for descriptive analysis.Bivariate analysis was done using chi-square test for association. Significant variables from bivariate analysis were subjected to multivariable analysis using binary logistic regression.SPSS version 29.0 was used. Results: Average age of the caregivers was 32.3 years (SD = 9.0). Of the caregivers, 51% (n=100) were aged 30 years or older.88.3% (n=173) of caregivers were female. Overall analysis of the health seeking behavior established that 70.9% (n=139) of caregivers had inappropriate health seeking behavior, while 29.1% (n=57) had appropriate health seeking behaviour. Married caregivers (aOR = 2.92, 95% CI: 1.15, 10.40, P = 0.009), those with children were not referred for care (aOR = 4.33, 95% CI: 1.23, 15.21, P = 0.022), who had children aged 1-24 months (aOR = 3.86, 95% CI: 1.35, 11.06, P = 0.012) and caregivers of firstborns (aOR = 5.18, 95% CI: 1.43, 18.78, P = 0.012) were more likely to have appropriate HSB. Caregivers who had SHIF insurance cover were more likely to seek appropriate healthcare (aOR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.12, 3.13, P < 0.001).Conclusion and recommendations: There is inappropriate health seeking behavior among caregivers of children with pneumonia. Factors such as marital status, referral status, child age, and birth order significantly influence HSB for pneumonia in children. Therfore, there is need to implement interventions to focus on educating caregivers, especially those with older children, to encourage timely healthcare access.