Health Service Utilization of Women with Reproductive Tract Infections in Rural China

Objecitves The objective of this study is to provide insight into psychosocial factors underlying utilisation of health services of women who perceived RTI symptoms and to describe health-seeking behaviour of women with RTIs.Methods A cross-sectional study,adopted Aday and Andersen's Social Behaviour Model was conducted in 1998～1999 in China.Hebei province of China was purposively chosen as the research site.All eligible married women aged 21 to 60,378 subjects,were face to face interviewed.Results The findings show that the percentage of self-reported symptoms of RTIs was 46.8 and the proportion of women with RTIs who utilised health services was only 26.7 percent.Concerning the users of governmenthealth services,most women sought care only once at the suggestion of their husbands.More than half(53.8%) of the non-users of governmenthealth services used self-medication and more than one-third(46.2%) of them did not seek any kind of care at all.The results of logistic regression analysis show that knowledge about self-medication,duration of RTIs,perceived social stigma of getting RTIs,family income,perceived severity of RTIs,and prior experience of RTIs are predicators of RTI women's utilisation of health services.Conclusions These findings show that there is a need for great emphasis on offering reproductive health education,alleviating women's social stigma related to RTIs,giving women social and moral support,empowering of women,and improving the quality of health services.