A Descriptive Study on Prevalence of Health Problems, their Treatment-Seeking Behavior and Preventive Measures among Selected Class C Employees of PGIMER, Chandigarh, 2015–2016

Abstract

Health is the state of wellbeing that people define in relation to their own values, personality and lifestyle. Thus, there should be awareness regarding prevalent diseases, common health problems and their treatment. Prevalence refers to the total number of individuals in a population who have a disease or health condition at a specific period of time, usually expressed as a percentage of the population. Treatment-seeking behaviour refers to "sequence of remedial actions that individuals undertake to rectify perceived health" and preventive measures are referred to as doing something good to minimise and reduce level of illnesses or problems. A descriptive quantitative research design was used to conduct the study to assess the prevalence of health problems, their treatment-seeking behavior and preventive measures among class C employees of PGIMER, Chandigarh, India. Systemic random sampling technique was utilized for this study. A structured questionnaire and biophysical assessment was used for data collection. Total 150 study participants were assessed. Majority (36.6%) of them were in the age group of 20–30 years, where male subjects were 65.3%. Contraceptives were used by majority (85.30%) of people and 78% were aware about the routes of HIV transmission. About 72.70% did not know much about vaccination and were not vaccinated for hepatitis B. Out of 29 reproductively active women, 23 had regular menstrual flow. Only 31.25% of total women participants performed breast self-examination. A total of 69.30% of the participants had normal BMI; 63.33% of participants exercised regularly, and 53.69% of them exercised for an average duration of 20 min. About 97.34% participants have sitting hours of 5–8 h per day. Twelve percent of participants were previously diagnosed with hypertension, 25.35% participants suffered from backache, and eye problems were prevalent in 50.70% population. In relation to their treatment-seeking behaviour, administration of self-medication of allopathic medicine was by 66% of the participants and 58.7% received benefits from the other modalities (Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Yoga etc.). About 24% participants were very much influenced by advertisements, treatment methods and healthcare centres in their decision making hence media plays a very important role in health promotion. The treatment-seeking behavior was average and preventive measures taken were also average; so still there is need to create awareness regarding better lifestyle, good dietary pattern and health practices.  Keywords: Health problems, treatment-seeking behaviour, preventive measures Cite this Article Ghai S, Devnani M, Singh NV et al. A descriptive study on prevalence of health problems, their treatment-seeking behavior and preventive measures among selected class C employees of PGIMER, Chandigarh, 2015–2016. Journal of Nursing Science and Practice. 2016; 6(3): 40–56p.