ABSTRACT

This study examines the health seeking behaviour towards diabetes mellitus among traders in Ariaria main market, Aba, Abia State. The study was a cross-sectional study. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select a total of 252 respondents which include 146 male and 106 female. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, awareness and knowledge about diabetes mellitus, health behaviour of the respondents towards diabetes mellitus, perception of the respondents towards risks of getting diabetes (susceptibility), perception of respondents towards severity of diabetes (severity), and perception of respondents on benefits/barriers of preventive behaviours towards diabetes were collected using structured and validated questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements of weight, height, hip and waist circumferences were taken using standard procedures. The IBM SPSS version 20 computer programme was used to analyze the data. Significant relationship wasjudged at p < 0.05. Data obtained were described using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Regression analysis was used to analyze the socio demographic predictors of health seeking behavior, perceived susceptibility. Furthermore, most (86%) ofthe traders perceived having low susceptibility towards diabetes. Result from the study showed that more than half (57.94%) of the traders are male while about 42.06% are female. Some (45.24%) ofthem are between the age bracket of 20-35 years of age. Result revealed that majority (86.11%) of the traders are Igbos. Almost all (90.48%) the traders are aware of diabetes mellitus. Majority (73.81%) of the traders have good knowledge of diabetes mellitus. More than half (61.5%) visited government hospital/clinic 1-5 times in one year. Slightly more than half (55.0%) ofthe traders believed that the best, most reliable, the first, and the nearest place to check if you have diabetes mellitus is the government hospital. More than half (59.73%) of the traders had high health seeking behavior. Furthermore, 93.7% of the traders had high susceptibility perception towards risk of getting diabetes while very low (6.3%) of the traders had low susceptibility perception towards diabetes mellitus. Also, 77% of the traders had high severity perception towards diabetes, low beneficial perception (1.6%) on the benefits/barriers of preventive behaviour towards diabetes. Less than half (47.22%) of the traders had normal BMI status while slightly more than half (65.1%) of the traders were at risk of cardiovascular diseases as indicated by their waist hip ratio (WHR). There is a significant association (P<0.05) between the traders. (20.63%) of the traders were overweight while (14.68%) of the traders were obsessed (47.2%) of the knowledge and their BMI and also the traders BMI status correlated significantly with their perceived susceptibility. However, no significant association (p>0.05) exist between the traders health seeking behavior, perceived severity, perceived benefits/barriers and their BMI. (Age, marital status and income level of the traders significantly (p<0.05) affected the health seeking behaviour of the traders). The government should put in place programmes that would ensure good health behavior, access to food and health care.