Caregivers Health Seeking Behaviour for Home Injuries Among Children Between 0- 12 Years in Kaptembwa , Nakuru County, Kenya

Abstract

Home Injuries are among the dominating cause of mortality and disability among children, with more than 5 million deaths reported worldwide each year. Some of the common injuries among children aged 0-12 years include: burns, falls, bites, cuts, drowning, and poisoning. Injuries ranks as number ten cause of mortality among children in Kaptembwa.Unvailing the prevalence of home injuries,the caregivers’ health seeking behaviour and the factors influencing the health seeking behaviour will help the health professionals in Nakuru West Sub-county setup health education programs that will reduce the home injuries. The study aimed at determining the types of home injuries, prevalence of common home injuries, actions taken by caregivers in case of Home Injuries (HI) and factors influencing health seeking behaviour. The study was conducted in Kaptembwa situated in Nakuru West sub-county, Nakuru County.Data collection was done from 18th May to 23rd August 2020. Cross sectional study design was used. Purposeful sampling was used to select Nakuru County and purposeful sampling used to select Kaptembwa settlement area while systematic sampling of 305 households was used. Data was collected using interviewer schedule and key informant interview. Data collected was analysed using both Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The descriptive findings for the study were presented in the form of numerical summaries, tables and charts while inferential findings were done by computing Chi-square analysis to measure association between the dependent and independent variables. There was significant relationship between the level of income and health seeking behaviour (P=0.041).The study also revealed that there was no significant relationship between the level of education and the health seeking behaviour of the caregivers (P=0.054). Cuts were the most prevalent (49%), followed by burns (22%), prick (15%) and fractures (14%). Predisposing factors to injuries were the state of the compound, playing, responsibilities given to the children among others. The study revealed that males were 1.333 times more likely to sustain injuries than their female counterparts. In conclusion, most of the caregivers had inappropriate health seeking behaviour. .Actions taken by caregivers depended on factors such as: perceived severity of the injury, level of income, age of the child, type of injury and level of education. The study recommends that Public Health Officers in Nakuru West educate caregivers on ways of preventing occurrences of home injuries. Additionally, Nakuru Ministry of health should construct more health facilities to improve accessibility of healthcare services among community members in order to improve appropriate Health Seeking Behaviour.