Determinants of Health seeking behaviours among youth involved in substance abuse in Kinondoni Municipality, Dar es Salaam

Mbao, Ezekiel Henry (2019) Determinants of Health seeking behaviours among youth involved in substance abuse in Kinondoni Municipality, Dar es Salaam. ["eprint_fieldopt_thesis_type_phd" not defined] thesis, The Open University of Tanzania.

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Abstract

This study aimed at identifying and assessing the determinants of health seeking behaviours among youth involved in substance abuse in Kinondoni Municipality, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A descriptive cross section study design with both qualitative and quantitative approaches was adopted for this study. The study employed purposive and random sampling procedure and involved 345 respondents. Data was collected through social survey questionnaire, indepth interviews, documentary reviews and focus group discussions. The quantitative and qualitative data were analysed using SPSS version 22 and „Content Analysis‟ respectively. The findings revealed that socio-demographic characteristics like gender, education level, income and age were influencial to health seeking behaviours among young people. About 62% of the participants were not aware of the available treatment options for substance abuse, 64% of the participants perceived that substance abuse was a problem and was affecting their health status. The partens that influenced health seeking behaviour included distance to health facilities, time spent to get preferred health services. The study concludes that a combination of personal factors like socio-demographic factors such as education, income, age and gender, awareness of available health services, negative perceptions of own health status and the need to resume normal status, working together in shaping the final health seeking behaviour of individuals including youths suffering from substance abuse problem. The study recommends that, in order to minimize substance abuse among youths, the government and other stakeholders need to consider these determinants in strategizing focused initiatives in substance abuse prevention.

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