Perceptions on the effectiveness of treatment and the timeline of Buruli ulcer influence pre-hospital delay reported by healthy individuals.
BACKGROUND: Delay in seeking treatment at the hospital is a major challenge in current Buruli ulcer control; it is associated with severe sequelae and functional limitations. Choosing alternative treatment and psychological, social and practical factors appear to influence delay. Objectives were to...
Published in: | PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2013
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002014 https://doaj.org/article/143a324ed5274480b06327e54dc37fc8 |
Summary: | BACKGROUND: Delay in seeking treatment at the hospital is a major challenge in current Buruli ulcer control; it is associated with severe sequelae and functional limitations. Choosing alternative treatment and psychological, social and practical factors appear to influence delay. Objectives were to determine potential predictors for pre-hospital delay with Leventhal's commonsense model of illness representations, and to explore whether the type of available dominant treatment modality influenced individuals' perceptions about BU, and therefore, influenced pre-hospital delay. METHODOLOGY: 130 healthy individuals aged >18 years, living in BU-endemic areas in Benin without any history of BU were included in this cross-sectional study. Sixty four participants from areas where surgery was the dominant treatment and sixty six participants from areas where antibiotic treatment was the dominant treatment modality were recruited. Using a semi-structured interview we measured illness perceptions (IPQ-R), knowledge about BU, background variables and estimated pre-hospital delay. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The individual characteristics 'effectiveness of treatment' and 'timeline acute-chronic' showed the strongest association with pre-hospital delay. No differences were found between regions where surgery was the dominant treatment and regions where antibiotics were the dominant treatment modality. CONCLUSIONS: Individual characteristics, not anticipated treatment modality appeared predictors of pre-hospital delay. |
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