RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the summary, findings, conclusions that were drawn from the results and discussion of the study, and recommendations that were formulated. It also includes the tabulated data, discussions, analysis, and interpretation of relevant data on the health seeking behaviours of urban poor families in La Trinidad Benguet. The level of health seeking behaviour of urban poor families in La Trinidad Benguet in terms of monitoring health conditions, health facility availed of by the family and compliance to prescribed treatment including the level to which the specified factors affect the health seeking behaviour of the respondents were being studied.

Level of Health-seeking Behaviours of Urban Poor Families in La Trinidad, Benguet. Monitoring of Health conditions

Table 1 presents the level of health-seeking behaviour of urban poor families in La Trinidad Benguet in terms of monitoring health. It shows that the mean scores ranges from 2.48 to 4.04.

Table 1.Monitoring Health Conditions. MONITORING OF HEALTH CONDITIONS M DE We seek health care services even without any symptom of a 2.48 A disease We seek health care services when a symptom of a disease appear 2.74 A We seek health care services when more than one symptom of a 3.59 VG disease appear We seek health care services when symptoms of a disease worsen 4.04 VG Overall Mean 3.21 A Tc = 4.98* T (0.05,3) = 2.35 *significant Mean Score (M) Interval 4.21-5.00 3.41-4.20 2.61-3.40 1.81-2.60 1.00-1.80 Descriptive Equivalent (DE) Excellent (E) Very Good (VG) Average (A) Fair (F) Poor (P)

We seek health care services when symptoms of a disease worsen got the highest mean of 4.04. The Urban Poor and Health in developing countries (2009) stated that urban health providers are well aware that poor clients present themselves in a more debilitated conditions that they would otherwise have been, having endure their illnesses until care could not be put off any longer. The level of health-seeking behaviour of urban poor families in La Trinidad Benguet in terms of monitoring of health conditions has on overall weighted mean of 3.21 which is equivalent to average which means that they sometimes seek health care services in the health facility. Using the t-test to compute the t-statistics, it yields a computed value of 4.98, which is higher than the tabulated t-value 2.35 at 0.05 level of significance. The hypothesis that states that the level of health seeking behaviours of urban

poor families in La Trinidad, Benguet in terms of monitoring health conditions is significantly different compared to poor level is not accepted. Therefore, the level of health seeking behaviour of the urban poor families in La Trinidad, Benguet is significantly higher than poor level.

Health Facility Availed of by the Family

Table 2 shows the level of health seeking behaviour of urban poor families in La Trinidad Benguet in terms of health facility availed of by the family. It reveals that the mean scores range from 0.63 to 3.48. Table 2. Health Facility Availed by the Family HEALTH FACILTY AVAILED BY THE FAMILY Government Hospitals Rural Health Unit Baranggay Health Center Faith Healers Others : Private clinic/Hospitals Overall Mean Tc=

M DE 3.48 VG 2.19 F 3.04 A 1.96 F 0.63 2.26 F T(0.05,4) = 2.13

Mean Score (M) Interval 4.21-5.00 3.41-4.20 2.61-3.40 1.81-2.60 1.00-1.80

Descriptive Equivalent (DE) Excellent (E) Very Good (VG) Average (A) Fair (F) Poor (P)

Government hospital has the highest weighed mean of 3.48 that agrees with The study of Urban Health and Care-Seeking Behavior: A Case Study of Slums in India and the Philippines (2006) stated that the poor and very poor urban households in the Philippines are much less likely than non-poor households to make use of private clinics and hospitals, but are more likely to seek care at government owned health facilities because of low cost which also supports our findings that private clinics and hospitals has the lowest mean score of 0.63. Faith healers got the 2nd lowest score with a mean of 1.96. This may be because urban dwellers have strong faith in medical science agreeing that a doctor is more knowledgeable on health matters than the traditional healers (Malanyaon, 1995). The level of health-seeking behaviour of urban poor families in La Trinidad Benguet in terms of health facility availed has on overall weighted mean score of 2.26 which is equivalent to average which means that they sometimes seek health care services in the health facility due to the poor lack access to health care because they lack the means to pay for it. Health care providers understand this reality and have seen that it can result in delayed or no treatment and the inability of the poor to purchase medicines and adhere to treatment schedules. (Islam,2006) Using the t-test to compute the t-statistics, it yielded a computed value of 1.74 which is less than the tabulated t-value of 2.13 at 0.05 level of significance.

The hypothesis that states that the level of health seeking behaviour of urban poor families in terms the health facility availed of by the families is poor is not accepted. Therefore, the level of health-seeking behaviour of urban poor family in La Trinidad, Benguet in terms of the health facility availed of by the family was significantly different with what was hypothesized, thus the level of health seeking behaviour in terms of health facility is not poor. Compliance to Prescribed Treatment Table 3 shows the level of health seeking behaviour of urban poor families in La Trinidad Benguet in terms of compliance to prescribed treatment. It displays that the health seeking behaviours of the urban poor families in La Trinidad in terms of compliance to prescribed treatment is from seldom to often with mean scores ranging from 2.15 to 4.

Table3. Compliance to Prescribed Treatment COMPLIANCE TO PRESCRIBED TREATMENT M DE Strictly follow prescribed treatment 4 VG Follow some of the prescribed treatment 2.96 A Follow prescribed treatment and stops when feeling better 3.63 VG Follow prescribed treatment and stops even when not 2.15 F feeling better Overall mean 3.19 A Tc = 4.38* T(0.05,3) = 2.35 *significant

Mean Score (M) Interval 4.21-5.00 3.41-4.20 2.61-3.40 1.81-2.60

Descriptive Equivalent (DE) Excellent (E) Very Good (VG) Average (A) Fair (F)

1.00-1.80

Poor (P)

Strictly follows prescribed treatment has the highest mean score of 4 Health providers realize that the poor are likely to abandon prescribe medications to save on the cost of purchasing medicines or economize by buying less than what was prescribed (Malanyaon, 1995). The level of health-seeking behaviour of urban poor families in La Trinidad Benguet in terms of compliance to prescribed treatment has on overall weighted mean score of 3.19 which is equivalent to average which means that they sometimes follow prescribed treatment. Using the t-test to compute the t-statistics, it yielded a computed value of 4.38 which is higher than the tabulated t-value of 2.13 at 0.05 level of significance. The hypothesis that states that the health seeking behaviour of urban poor families in terms of compliance to prescribed treatment is poor is accepted. The health seeking behaviours of urban poor families in La Trinidad, Benguet was in fact significantly higher than what was hypothesized.

Level to which the Specified Factors Affect the Health-Seeking Behaviors of the Respondents

Adequacy of Facilities

Table 4 shows the level to which adequacy of facilities affect the health seeking behaviour of urban poor families in La Trinidad Benguet. It revealed that the mean scores range from 1.93 to 2.26 which is all equivalent to moderately influential. Table4. Adequacy of Facilities ADEQUACY OF FACILITIES M Accessibility of health care facility 2.26 Availability of Transportation 2.26 Complete facilities or equipment of hospitals 1.96 Effective facilities or equipment of hospitals 1.93 Availability of health practitioners 2.07 Overall mean 2.10 Tc= 1.35ns ns-not significant Mean Score (M) Interval 2.34 - 3.00 1.67 - 2.33 1.00 - 1.66

DE MI MI MI MI MI MI T (0.05, 4) = 2.13

Descriptive Equivalent (DE) Highly Influential (HI) Moderately Influential (MI) Least Influential (LI)

Accessibility of health care facility and availability of transportation obtained the highest score mean of 2.26 this may be because distance has a significant and negative impact on the choice of a health facility. Increasing distance would increase the likelihood of a household opting for self-treatment Rather any of the formal health providers, a result also reported by (Muriithi, 2013) also an increase in distance implies paying some cost to travel to the source

of treatment as opposed to seeking self-treatment. There is a sense in which distance adds an extra burden to the monetary cost of treatment. The grand mean, which is 2.10, has a descriptive equivalent of moderately influential which means adequacy of health care facility somewhat affect the health seeking behaviour of urban poor families. Perceived quality is another major issue; it follows reason that individuals will only go to a health provider that they perceive is high quality, their data showed that 68% of their respondents have been to health providers other than the one they usually go to is further evidence that quality is an important factor. Using the t-test to compute the t-statistics, it yielded a computed value of 1.35 which is less than the tabulated t-value of 2.13 at 0.05 level of significance. The hypothesis that states that the level to which the specified factors affect the health seeking behaviour of the respondents in terms of adequacy of facilities is moderately influential is not accepted. Therefore, the level to which adequacy of facilities affect the health seeking behaviour of urban poor families in La Trinidad, Benguet is not moderately influential.

Amount of Financial Charges

Table 5 shows the level to which amount of financial charges affect the health seeking behavior of urban poor families in La Trinidad Benguet. It revealed that the mean scores range from 2.44 to 2.30. Table 5. Amount of Financial Charges Tc = 12.01ns T(0.05,3) = 2.35 ns - not significant AMOUNT OF FINANCIAL CHARGES M E Charges are at reasonable rates 2.41 HI Charges are at affordable rates 2.44 HI Consultation are free of charge 2.44 HI Monthly income of the family 2.30 MI Overall mean 2.40 HI Both charges are at affordable rates and consultation are free of charge have the highest mean score of 2.44, followed by charges at a reasonable rates with a mean of 2.41, and monthly income of the family with a mean of 2.30. The first three are all equated to highly influential, except for the monthly income of the family that is equated to moderately influential. Charges for health facilities have great effect on the health seeking behaviour of urban poor. In support with these, Cisse (2006) believes that user fee is the key to determining health seeking behaviour. The grand mean, which is 2.40, has a descriptive equivalent of highly influential, which means amount of financial charges greatly affect the health seeking behaviour of urban poor families, in line with this, a study conducted by Kayako (2010) showed that money used to pay for medical care was a major complaint of the poor, according to Islam (2006) this is due to the dependence of

urban poor on the cash economy. Their respondents spoke of their inability to meet daily needs for cash, which leaves them to manage on the very edge of subsistence. In contrast to rural life, where people can at least grow some of their daily food and nature provides other consumables , urban families have to earn cash every day to meet their basic needs. Another significant opportunity cost incurred by the decision to go to a health provider is the loss of income from a days work missed. With the combined travel time to and from the clinic, as well as waiting time, a trip to a health provider may negate a whole days worth of work. Many individuals will work through illness, so the only time that they cease working is when they go to the health provider. (Russell, 2008) Using the t-test to compute the t-statistics, it yielded a computed value of 12.01 which is significantly higher than the tabulated t-value of 2.35 at 0.05 level of significance led to the acceptance of the null hypothesis. The hypothesis that states that the level to which the specified factors affect the health seeking behaviour of the respondents in terms of amount of financial charges is moderately influential is not accepted. Therefore, the level to which the amounts of financial charges affect the health seeking behaviour of the urban poor families in La Trinidad, Benguet is not just moderately influential.

Personal Traits of Respondents

Table 6 shows factors affecting the health seeking behaviour of urban poor families in La Trinidad Benguet in terms of personal traits. It shows that the mean scores range from 1.70 to 2 is all equivalent to moderately influential. Table.6 Personal Traits of Respondents PERSONAL TRAITS OF RESPONDENTS Age of member seeking health Sex of member seeking health Family size Family structure Overall mean

M E 1.85 MI 1.70 MI 2 MI 1.78 MI 1.83 MI Tc=2.66* T(0.05,3) = 2.35 *significant

Mean Score (M) Interval 2.34 3.00 1.67 2.33 1.00 1.66

Descriptive Equivalent (DE) Highly Influential (HI) Moderately Influential (MI) Least Influential

Family size has the highest mean score of 2, followed by age of member seeking health with a mean of 1.85, family structure with a mean of 1.78, and lastly sex of member seeking health with a mean of 1.70. Size of household has a positive and largely significant effect on the choice of health care. Having a large family increases the probability of visiting both public and private health facilities (Muriithi, 2013). The intuition behind this comes from Bolduc et al (1996) who argued that the greater the number of working members there are in a household, the more likely individuals will turn away from self-medication.

Sex of member seeking health has the least score of 1.70. Gender has little to no effect on health seeking behaviours of urban poor families. The coefficient on the gender in health facility is negative but statistically insignificant. This has the implication that males in slum areas are as females likely to seek for medical relative to self-treatment (Muriithi, 2013). The grand mean, which is 1.83, has a descriptive equivalent of moderately influential which means that the personal traits of respondents somewhat affect the health seeking behaviour of urban poor families. Using the t-test to compute the t-statistics, it yielded a computed value of 2.66 which is higher than the tabulated t-value of 2.35 at 0.05 level of significance led to the rejection of the null hypothesis. The hypothesis that states that the level to which the specified factors affect the health seeking behaviour of the respondents in terms of personal traits of respondents is moderately influential is therefore accepted. Hence, the level to which the personal traits of the respondents affect the health seeking behaviour of the urban poor families in La Trinidad is moderately influential.