“When I suffer from fever, I eat mangos.” Determinants of health-seeking beliefs and behaviors of rural older women in Sylhet, Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

Poverty, poor living conditions, religious values and norms, lack of education, and gender discrimination influence the beliefs and behaviors of rural older women in many low-income countries. This paper aims to report the socio-ecological determinants of health-seeking beliefs and behaviors of rural older women in North-eastern Bangladesh and how these behaviors impact their recognition within the setting. It involved semi-structured interviews with 25 older women and 11 healthcare professionals. The findings revealed various determinants at the personal level (awareness of illness, mistrust toward medical treatment, self-treatment, and religious values and norms), the interpersonal level (isolation in family and communication with clinicians), community level (community perception of aging, neighboring and community organizations), and in the sphere of human rights (care affordability, social safety-net coverage and national policy). Four core determinants (poverty, education, gender and religiosity) were intertwined in shaping beliefs and behaviors.

KEYWORDS:

• Health beliefs
• Bangladesh
• rural older women
• healthcare access
• socio-ecological exploration

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the participants who provided their time and shared their healthcare seeking experiences. They grateful to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Bangladesh for assisting in the recruitment of participants.

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study is approved by Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee of Flinders University [Project No. 6705]. Written consents were obtained from the participation prior to data collection.

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Availability of Data and Materials

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

MH made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data. Responsible for drafting the manuscript and revising it critically for important intellectual content. ADB and WA made substantial contributions to shaping the conception and design. Involved in drafting the manuscript and revising it critically for important intellectual content. AH and AF involved in reviewing the manuscript, contribute to developing methodological and gerontological frames, and revising it critically for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

Not funded