The pathway followed by psychotic patients to a tertiary health center in a developing country: a comparison with patients with epilepsy.

The objective of this study was to describe and compare the pathways followed by Malay patients with psychoses (schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorder) and Malay patients with epilepsy to a tertiary health center in the northeastern area of peninsular Malaysia. There were 60 patients in each group. The most popular pathway for both groups was first contact with traditional or alternative healers. Consultation with Malay traditional healers (bomohs) and/or homeopathic practitioners (44.2%) was significantly higher for psychotic patients (61.7%) than for patients with epilepsy (26.7%) (chi(2)(2)=15.609, P<0.001). Direct access (24.2%) was the second most popular pathway and almost equally followed by both groups of patients. The third and last pathway was initial contact with private general practitioners and government doctors, respectively. Patients with epilepsy dominated the last two pathways. The treatment delay (TD) was significantly longer in epileptic than psychotic patients regardless of their visit to a bomoh and/or homeopathic practitioner (P<0001) or not (p<0.01). The socioeconomic status of psychotic patients also was significantly better than people with epilepsy (chi(2)=9.957, chi(2)(4), p=0.041).

Help-seeking pathways among Malay psychiatric patients.

The aim of this study is to explore the help-seeking behaviour of Malay psychiatric patients. A semi-structured interview based on a standard proforma was conducted to assess help seeking process and delays for Malay psychiatric patients attending the psychiatric clinic for the first time. Help-seeking process and delays were defined. Among 134 patients evaluated in the study, 69% had visited traditional healers (bomoh) for the present illness before consulting psychiatrists. The second popular choice of treatment was medical practitioner and only a small percentage of them had consulted homeopathic practitioners and herbalists. Patients who had consulted bomohs were significantly delayed in getting psychiatric treatment compared with those who had not consulted them. Consultation of bomohs was significantly higher among married patients, those with major psychiatric illnesses and in family who believed in supernatural causes of mental illness. However, there was no significant difference in age, gender, educational status and occupation between patients who had consulted and not consulted bomoh. We concluded that majority of the Malay psychiatric patients had sought the traditional treatment prior to psychiatric consultation. The strength of social support and the belief of the patients, friends, and/or relatives in supernatural causes of mental illness were strongly associated with the rate of traditional treatment. Deep-seated cultural beliefs were major barrier to psychiatric treatment.

Neonatal morbidity and care-seeking behaviour in rural Bangladesh.

The present study was undertaken to assess the pattern of reported neonatal morbidity and the care-seeking behaviour for neonates in rural Bangladesh. Data were collected from 1511 women who had live births during January 1996-August 1998 in four rural subdistricts, which are the field sites of the Operations Research Project of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information from the mothers who were interviewed in their homes. Forty-nine per cent of the neonates were reported to have suffered from some kind of morbidity. Fever was the most common morbidity reported in the study population (21 per cent), followed by breathing difficulty (11 per cent). Birth order, complications during pregnancy, and/or delivery and death of a sibling were found to be significantly associated with reported neonatal morbidity. Eighty-seven per cent of the mothers sought care for their newborns. Some were taken to several different providers, the commonest being homeopaths (38 per cent) and village doctors (37 per cent). Seventeen per cent were taken to trained providers, and only 5 per cent to government health facilities. Seeking care from trained providers was found to be associated with the gender of the neonate, birth order, antenatal care of the mother from trained providers, father's education and monthly expenditure of the family. The results of this study suggest that efforts should be made to raise community awareness regarding neonatal morbidity, the importance of seeking care from trained personnel and the availability of services for these conditions.