Socio-Economic Indices and Choice of Healthcare Services among Adults in Rural Areas of Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District, Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.67487/tjahs.v2i4.318Keywords:
Socioeconomic Indices, Healthcare Services, Age, Gender, Educational AttainmentAbstract
The study investigated the influence of socioeconomic indices on the choice of healthcare services among adults in the rural area of Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District, Nigeria. The study was guided by six research questions and six hypotheses. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The target population for the study comprised all 191,521 adults aged 18 years and above in rural areas of Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. A sample size of 400 respondents was selected for the study using the simple random sampling technique. A researcher-made structured questionnaire entitled “Socio-economic Indices and Choice of Healthcare Services Questionnaire (SICHSQ)” was the main instrument for data collection. The instrument was face validated by five experts, two from the Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education, two from the Department of Psychological Foundations of Education and one from the Department of Sociological Foundations of Education, University of Uyo. The reliability coefficient result of 0.78 was obtained using Cronbach’s Alpha reliability method. The collated data were analysed using simple linear regression to answer the research questions and also used to test all the hypotheses at the .05 level of significance. The findings revealed that age, gender and educational attainment have a very strong influence on the choice of healthcare services for health challenges among adults in the rural area of Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. It was recommended, among others, that community health educators should develop healthcare programmes that tailor health education to different age groups to ensure relevant and effective health-seeking behaviour.
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