Health seeking behaviour and health awareness among rural and urban adolescents in Dehradun District, Uttarakhand, India
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Tuhin Kumar
Abstract
Background:
Adolescents constituted 19% population of India in 2011. Adolescents have health seeking behaviour different from that of adults. We estimated the utilisation of available health care services by adolescents and awareness regarding various health issues in the urban and rural Dehradun District, Uttarakhand, India. We also described knowledge and practices of public sector health care providers.
Methodology:
We conducted a cross-sectional survey among adolescents 10–19 years in the urban Dehradun and rural Chakrata block of the Dehradun District. We used cluster sampling with sample size 680 each in urban and rural areas. We collected data from adolescents using semi structured questionnaire on health awareness and utilisation of health care services. Public sector health care providers were surveyed about their knowledge and practices regarding adolescents health.
Results:
We surveyed 1463 adolescents. The overall mean age was 14.4 (2.6) years, about half being females. Half of the adolescents who had any illness used the public sector. Awareness about anaemia was 48% in urban and 12% in rural areas. A higher proportion of females (Rural: 89%, Urban: 76%) were aware of condoms as contraceptives than males (Rural: 68%, Urban: 12%). Only 62% of doctors and 49% of paramedical staff had knowledge regarding services under Adolescents Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH).
Conclusion:
Awareness regarding various health issues was low among males as compared to females, especially in rural areas. School based health promotion programs should be carried out to increase awareness among adolescents. Health facilities should be strengthened to provide adolescent friendly health services to enhance utilisation.
Acknowledgments
This study was funded by the extramural funding by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). We thank Government of Uttarakhand, India for their support in conducting this study.
Source of support: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Government of India.
Conflict of interest statement: None declared.
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©2015 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- The first cigarette and then………
- Postnatal testosterone may be an important mediator of the association between prematurity and male neurodevelopmental disorders: a hypothesis
- Dietary habits and sedentary behaviors among health science university students in Bahrain
- Diet quality and physical activity in relation to childhood obesity
- Determinants of cigarette smoking among school adolescents on the island of Java, Indonesia
- Oral health impact, dental caries experience, and associated factors in 12–15-year-old school children in India
- The effects of educating mothers and girls on the girls’ attitudes toward puberty health: a randomized controlled trial
- Challenges and results of a school-based intervention to manage excess weight among school children in Tunisia 2012–2014
- The effectiveness of an adolescent reproductive health education intervention in Uganda
- Comparison of parental socio-demographic factors in children and adolescents presenting with internalizing and externalizing disorders
- Health seeking behaviour and health awareness among rural and urban adolescents in Dehradun District, Uttarakhand, India
- Knowledge and perception of young adults in Nigeria on effectiveness of condom use in prevention of sexually transmitted infections
- Media exposure, interactive health literacy, and adolescents’ susceptibility to future smoking
- Disordered eating and body image issues and their associated factors among adolescents in urban secondary schools in Sarawak, Malaysia
- Normal weight obesity among young adults in Trinidad and Tobago: prevalence and associated factors
- Prevalence and correlates of suicidal ideation and attempts among children and adolescents
- Neurogenic speech sequelae following suicide attempt by hanging: a case report
- Tubo-ovarian abscess in non sexually active adolescents
- Implicit emotion regulation: linking childhood oppositional defiant disorder with adult depression and bipolar disorder?
- Knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy and estimation of frequency of condom use among Iranian students based on a crosswise model: more explanation is needed for the crosswise model
