Health Seeking Behaviors following Diabetes Mellitus of Various Ethnic Groups in Nkwen Health District of Bamenda III Subdivision, Mezam Division, North West Region of Cameroon

The research on Health Seeking Behaviours following Diabetes Mellitus DM of various ethnic groups was conducted because different patients within a given ethnic group or cultural group have different options regarding actions to seek health care services. The purpose of this study was to determine the Health Seeking Behaviours HSB following DM patients from various ethnic groups and the roles of the Health Psychologists HP on the DM patients in Nkwen Health District of Bamenda III Subdivision within Mezam Division of the North West Region of Cameroon. A descriptive survey research design was conducted among 230 sampled DM patients from various ethnic groups in Nkwen Health District. A non probability purposive sampling technique was used to set the population under study. The data was collected using both Focus Groups Discussions FGDs and questionnaire for a period of two months during the period that the DM patients came to Nkwen Health District either to consult or to refill their drugs. The questionnaire were administered to 230 DM patients from the various ethnic groups which were Bali, Bafut, Banso, Bamendankwe, Babanki, Santa, Nkwen and Ndu during this period as well.. The data collected was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics with SPSS software tool version 20.0, following the objectives of the study. For HSB, 38.3 agreed that they sought health care from traditional medicine whereas 26.1 remained neutral on traditional medicine. On the other hand, 37.7 disagreed that they used traditional medicine. Cultural believes and distance deterred HSB which were statistically significant with P = 0.001 and P= 0.001 respectively. The options taken to seek health care from the hospital were influenced by family relatives with P=0.001. Therefore, HSB was found to be statistically significant for the first traditional medicine and second line hospital among the different ethnic groups with P = 0.001 and 0.001 respectively. These results showed that poor HSB following DM among the different ethnic groups was statistically significant in Nkwen Health District. Foncham Paul Babila "Health-Seeking Behaviors following Diabetes Mellitus of Various Ethnic Groups in Nkwen Health District of Bamenda III Subdivision, Mezam Division, North West Region of Cameroon" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-6 | Issue-5 , August 2022, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd51783.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/psychology/51783/healthseeking-behaviors-following-diabetes-mellitus-of-various-ethnic-groups-in-nkwen-health-district-of-bamenda-iii-subdivision-mezam-division-north-west-region-of-cameroon/foncham-paul-babila