Working street children’s perceptions of their health, illness and health-seeking behaviour : a qualitative study in New Delhi, India
Document type: mthesis
Download file(s):
183344 (379 KB)
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: This is one of the very few studies conducted in New Delhi, India, to explore and understand working street children’s perceptions of their health, illness and health seeking behaviour. OBJECTIVES: To explore and understand the perceptions of Delhi’s working street children regarding their health, illness, healthcare seeking behaviour and the obstacles to healthcare service use.
METHODS: An exploratory qualitative study including semi-structured interviews and in-depth case studies of working street children of Delhi. The study was conducted in summer of 2007 and since it is hard to find/track working street children in summer due to their mobile nature, therefore, strategies like snowball sampling was applied and sampling was convenience based and purposive. Also, there is dearth of information or data on the working street children, so this sampling frame was considered suitable. FINDINGS: Results highlight that the working street children of Delhi are prone to many illnesses and negative health outcomes as a result of their conditions. Their health and medical problems ranged from minor problems such as cough, cold and fever to major ones such as injuries, diarrhoea, high grade fever, accidents, skin wounds and chest pain etc. However, the severity of these problems as perceived by them was low/poor. They preferred informal health providers if self-medication failed so there was medical pluralism. The obstacles to healthcare service use were perceived to be logistical and financial in addition to apprehension of ill-treatment from service providers owing to their substandard status in society. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The findings of study indicate that the health conditions of working street children are miserable and majority of the available health services are out of reach of street children and there are multiple obstacles faced by street children in accessing health care services. Working street children’s perceptions of their health and healthcare needs and other requirements should be considered in designing interventions and programs targeted at them. The obstacles to healthcare service utilization need to be tackled keeping their perceptions in view and services should be made more userfriendly. In order to provide sustainable and normal health care to this group of children, there needs to be effective public-private partnerships or amalgamation of health services among private and public resources. Further research on the subject is important in order to find long-term solutions and to understand and address the root causes of their problems.
Authors:
Nanda, S.
Country:
India
Category:
Research
Department:
Development Policy & Practice
Institute:
KIT (Royal Tropical Institute)
Keywords:
health
,
health services
,
children
Language:
eng
Organization:
KIT - Royal Tropical Institute
PAGE:
47
Year:
2008
Region:
South Asia
Right:
© 2008 Nanda
Subject:
Health and Nutrition
Title:
Working street children’s perceptions of their health, illness and health-seeking behaviour : a qualitative study in New Delhi, India
Training:
Master in International Health (MIH)