↓ Skip to main content

Patterns of treatment-seeking behaviors among caregivers of febrile young children: a Ugandan multiple case study

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Public Health, February 2016
Altmetric Badge

Mentioned by

twitter
1 X user

Citations

dimensions_citation
21 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
142 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
Patterns of treatment-seeking behaviors among caregivers of febrile young children: a Ugandan multiple case study
Published in
BMC Public Health, February 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12889-016-2813-7
Pubmed ID
Authors

Rosemin Kassam, Richard Sekiwunga, Duncan MacLeod, Juliet Tembe, Eric Liow

Abstract

The vast majority of malaria deaths in Uganda occur in children five and under and in rural areas. This study's exploratory case study approach captured unique situations to illustrate special attributes and aspects of treatment-seeking during a malaria episode. During August 2010, a qualitative exploratory study was conducted in seven of Butaleja District's 12 sub-counties. Multiple case study methodology consisting of loosely-structured interviews were carried out with eight caregivers of children five and under in the local dialect. Caregivers were geographically distant and not known to each other. Interviews were translated into English and transcribed the same day. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Of the eight cases, children recovered fully in three instances, survived but with deficits in three, and died in two. Common to all outcomes were (1) triggers to illness recognition, (2) similar treatment sequences and practices, (3) factors which influenced caregivers' treatment-seeking decisions, (4) challenges encountered while seeking care at public health facilities, (5) cost burdens associated with managing malaria, (6) life burdens resulting from negative outcomes from malaria, (7) variations in caregiver knowledge about artemisinin combination therapy, and (8) varying perspectives how malaria management could be improved. Despite the reality that caregivers in Butaleja District generally share similar practices, experiences and challenges, very few children ever receive treatment in accordance with the Uganda's national guidelines. To bring national practice into conformance with policy, three advances must occur: (1) All key stakeholders (those affiliated with the formal health system - public facilities and licensed private outlets, unlicensed drug vendors, and caregivers of young children) must concur on the need and the means to improve malaria management, (2) all health providers (formal and unlicensed) need to be engaged in training and certification to improve timely access to affordable treatment irrespective of a region's remoteness or low population density, and (3) future public health interventions need to improve caregivers' capacity to take the necessary actions to best manage malaria in young children.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profile of 1 X user who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 142 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Kenya 1 <1%
Nigeria 1 <1%
Tanzania, United Republic of 1 <1%
Unknown 139 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 23 16%
Student > Bachelor 20 14%
Student > Ph. D. Student 17 12%
Student > Doctoral Student 12 8%
Researcher 9 6%
Other 26 18%
Unknown 35 25%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 35 25%
Nursing and Health Professions 19 13%
Social Sciences 8 6%
Psychology 5 4%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 5 4%
Other 26 18%
Unknown 44 31%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 February 2016.
All research outputs
#18,441,836
of 22,849,304 outputs
Outputs from BMC Public Health
#12,874
of 14,886 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#216,130
of 297,534 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Public Health
#206
of 232 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,849,304 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 11th percentile – i.e., 11% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 14,886 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.9. This one is in the 6th percentile – i.e., 6% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 297,534 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 15th percentile – i.e., 15% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 232 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 5th percentile – i.e., 5% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.