IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v161y2016icp118-125.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Self-reported morbidity and health service utilization in rural Tamil Nadu, India

Author

Listed:
  • Dodd, Warren
  • King, Nia
  • Humphries, Sally
  • Little, Matthew
  • Dewey, Cate

Abstract

In Tamil Nadu, India, improvements have been made toward developing a high-quality, universally accessible healthcare system. However, some rural residents continue to confront significant barriers to obtaining healthcare. The primary objective of this study was to investigate self-reported morbidity, health literacy, and healthcare preferences, utilization, and experiences in order to identify priority areas for government health policies and programs. Drawing on 66 semi-structured interviews and 300 household surveys (including 1693 individuals), administered in 26 rural villages in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district, we found that the prevalence of self-reported major health conditions was 22.3%. There was a large burden of non-communicable and chronic diseases, and the most common major morbidities were: connective tissue problems (7.6%), nervous system and sense organ diseases (5.0%), and circulatory and respiratory diseases (2.5%). Increased age and decreased education level were associated with higher odds of reporting most diseases. Low health literacy levels resulted in individuals seeking care only once pain interfered with daily activities. As such, individuals’ health-seeking behaviour depended on which strategy was believed to result in the fastest return to work using the fewest resources. Although government facilities were the most common healthcare access point, they were mistrusted; 48.8% and 19.2% of respondents perceived inappropriate treatment protocols and corruption, respectively, at public facilities. Conversely, 93.3% of respondents reported high treatment cost as the main barrier to accessing private facilities. Our results highlight that addressing the chronic and non-communicable disease burdens amongst rural populations in this context will require health policies and village-level programs that address the low health literacy and the issues of rural healthcare accessibility and acceptability.

Suggested Citation

  • Dodd, Warren & King, Nia & Humphries, Sally & Little, Matthew & Dewey, Cate, 2016. "Self-reported morbidity and health service utilization in rural Tamil Nadu, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 118-125.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:161:y:2016:i:c:p:118-125
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.035
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616302635
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.035?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raghav Gaiha & Raghbendra Jha & Vani S. Kulkarni, 2010. "Obesity, Affluence and Urbanisation in India," ASARC Working Papers 2010-10, The Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre.
    2. Kroeger, Axel, 1983. "Anthropological and socio-medical health care research in developing countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 147-161, January.
    3. Seeberg, Jens & Pannarunothai, Supasit & Padmawati, Retna Siwi & Trisnantoro, Laksono & Barua, Nupur & Pandav, Chandrakant S., 2014. "Treatment seeking and health financing in selected poor urban neighbourhoods in India, Indonesia and Thailand," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 49-57.
    4. Subramanian, S.V. & Subramanyam, Malavika A. & Selvaraj, Sakthivel & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2009. "Are self-reports of health and morbidities in developing countries misleading? Evidence from India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 260-265, January.
    5. Pillai, Rajamohanan K & Williams, Sankey V. & Glick, Henry A. & Polsky, Daniel & Berlin, Jesse A. & Lowe, Robert A., 2003. "Factors affecting decisions to seek treatment for sick children in Kerala, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(5), pages 783-790, September.
    6. Navaneetham, K. & Dharmalingam, A., 2002. "Utilization of maternal health care services in Southern India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(10), pages 1849-1869, November.
    7. Planning Commission, 2011. "High Level Expert Group Report on Universal Health Coverage for India," Working Papers id:4646, eSocialSciences.
    8. Kamat, Vinay R., 2001. "Private practitioners and their role in the resurgence of malaria in Mumbai (Bombay) and Navi Mumbai (New Bombay), India: serving the affected or aiding an epidemic?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 52(6), pages 885-909, March.
    9. Chandrashekhar T Sreeramareddy & T N Sathyanarayana & H N Harsha Kumar, 2012. "Utilization of Health Care Services for Childhood Morbidity and Associated Factors in India: A National Cross-Sectional Household Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(12), pages 1-12, December.
    10. Fikree, Fariyal F. & Ali, Tazeen & Durocher, Jill M. & Rahbar, Mohammad H., 2004. "Health service utilization for perceived postpartum morbidity among poor women living in Karachi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 681-694, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alayne M Adams & Rubana Islam & Sifat Shahana Yusuf & Anthony Panasci & Nancy Crowell, 2020. "Healthcare seeking for chronic illness among adult slum dwellers in Bangladesh: A descriptive cross-sectional study in two urban settings," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-18, June.
    2. Richard A Iles, 2018. "Informal healthcare sector and marginalized groups: Repeat visits in rural North India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(7), pages 1-14, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chandan Kumar & Rajesh Kumar Rai & Prashant Kumar Singh & Lucky Singh, 2013. "Socioeconomic Disparities in Maternity Care among Indian Adolescents, 1990–2006," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(7), pages 1-10, July.
    2. Seeberg, Jens & Pannarunothai, Supasit & Padmawati, Retna Siwi & Trisnantoro, Laksono & Barua, Nupur & Pandav, Chandrakant S., 2014. "Treatment seeking and health financing in selected poor urban neighbourhoods in India, Indonesia and Thailand," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 49-57.
    3. Dayashankar Maurya & Altaf Virani & S. Rajasulochana, 2017. "Horses for Courses: Moving India towards Universal Health Coverage through Targeted Policy Design," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 15(6), pages 733-744, December.
    4. Saem Hussain & Waqas Shair & Salman Arif Mir & Said Aleemuddin, 2023. "Public Health Care Services in Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis of Drivers of Utilisation," Journal of Economic Impact, Science Impact Publishers, vol. 5(2), pages 155-161.
    5. Sanjoy Kumar Chanda & Benojir Ahammed & Md Hasan Howlader & Md Ashikuzzaman & Taufiq-E-Ahmed Shovo & Md Tanvir Hossain, 2020. "Factors associating different antenatal care contacts of women: A cross-sectional analysis of Bangladesh demographic and health survey 2014 data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-17, April.
    6. Suman Kanungo & Kalyan Bhowmik & Tanmay Mahapatra & Sanchita Mahapatra & Uchhal K Bhadra & Kamalesh Sarkar, 2015. "Perceived Morbidity, Healthcare-Seeking Behavior and Their Determinants in a Poor-Resource Setting: Observation from India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    7. Ellen Melbye Langballe & Vegard Skirbekk & Bjørn Heine Strand, 2023. "Subjective age and the association with intrinsic capacity, functional ability, and health among older adults in Norway," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Dayashankar Maurya, 2019. "Understanding public health insurance in India: A design perspective," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 1633-1650, October.
    9. Sonu Goel & Federica Angeli & Neetu Singla & Dirk Ruwaard, 2016. "Development and Validation of the Motivations for Selection of Medical Study (MSMS) Questionnaire in India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(12), pages 1-13, December.
    10. Manoj K. Pandey, 2013. "Elderly's Health Shocks and Household's Ex-ante Poverty in India," ASARC Working Papers 2013-01, The Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre.
    11. Debayan Pakrashi & Surya Nath Maiti & Sarani Saha, 2022. "Caste, Awareness and Inequality in Access to Maternal and Child Health Programs: Evidence From India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 1301-1321, October.
    12. Kapteyn, Arie & Wah, Saw Htay, 2016. "Challenges to small and medium-size businesses in Myanmar: What are they and how do we know?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-22.
    13. Joanne Yoong & Nicholas Burger & Connor Spreng & Neeraj Sood, 2010. "Private Sector Participation and Health System Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(10), pages 1-9, October.
    14. Swaminathan, Harini & Sharma, Anurag & Shah, Narendra G., 2019. "Does the relationship between income and child health differ across income groups? Evidence from India," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 57-73.
    15. Azharuddin Akhtar & Indrani Roy Chowdhury, 2023. "The socioeconomic inequity in healthcare utilization among individuals with cardiovascular diseases in India," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 1000-1018, May.
    16. Pradeep Kumar Choudhury, 2015. "Explaining the Role of Parental Education in the Regional Variations in Infant Mortality in India," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(3), pages 544-572, September.
    17. Pankaj Bahuguna & Indranil Mukhopadhyay & Akashdeep Singh Chauhan & Saroj Kumar Rana & Sakthivel Selvaraj & Shankar Prinja, 2018. "Sub-national health accounts: Experience from Punjab State in India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-17, December.
    18. Stekelenburg, Jelle & Jager, Bastiaan E. & Kolk, Pascal R. & Westen, Esther H. M. N. & Kwaak, Anke van der & Wolffers, Ivan N., 2005. "Health care seeking behaviour and utilisation of traditional healers in Kalabo, Zambia," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 67-81, January.
    19. Indrani Gupta, 2015. "Financing for Health Coverage in India: Issues and Concerns," Working Papers id:7008, eSocialSciences.
    20. Biswajit Mandal, 2015. "Demand for maternal health inputs in West Bengal-Inference from NFHS 3 in India," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(4), pages 2685-2700.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:161:y:2016:i:c:p:118-125. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.