Health-seeking pathway and factors leading to delays in tuberculosis diagnosis in West Pokot County, Kenya: A grounded theory study
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Date
2018Author
Mbuthia, Grace W
Olungah, Charles O
Ondicho, Tom G
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Background
Patients’
health-seeking
behaviour
can
lead
to delays
in tuberculosis
(TB)
diagnosis,
how-
ever
little
is known
about
the
experiences
and
treatment
pathways
of patients
diagnosed
with
TB
in Kenya.
The
aim
of this
study
is to explore
the
health
seeking
practices
and
factors
contributing
to delay
in TB
diagnosis.
Methods
This
study
was
based
on
explorative
qualitative
research
using
a constructivis
t grounded
theory
approach.
A total
of 61
TB
patients
in the
intensive
phase
of treatment
were
recruited
as
informants
in the
study.
Six
focus
group
discussions
and
15
in-depth
interviews
were
used
to collect
data.
Data
were
analysed
through
three
step
coding
using
the
grounded
the-
ory
approach.
Results
Participants
adopted
different
treatment
pathways
as
they
sought
care
from
a pluralistic
health
care
system
involving
traditional
healers,
herbalists,
private
clinic,
drug
shops
and
the
public
health
sector.
The
study
revealed
an
explanatory
model
of factors
leading
to
delay
illustrated
by
the
participant’s
expression
“I suffered
for
a long
time.”
The
model
is
comprised
of three
categories
that
lead
to delays,
namely
individual,
social-cultural
and
structural
factors.
Conclusion
There
is a need
to improve
timely
diagnosis
of TB
through
innovative
approaches
such
as
intensive
case
finding.
Similarly,
the
health-care
system
should
decentralize
TB
services
as
much
as
possible
and
offer
free
diagnostic
services
to increase
accessibility.
URI
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0207995http://hdl.handle.net/11295/104476
Citation
Mbuthia GW, Olungah CO, Ondicho TG (2018) Health-seeking pathway and factors leading to delays in tuberculosis diagnosis in West Pokot County, Kenya: A grounded theory study. PLoS ONE 13(11): e0207995. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207995Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
- Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) [10387]
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