A Cross-Sectional Study of factors associated with Health Seeking Behaviour of street vendors in selected areas of Hyderabad Telangana State

Abstract

The nation’s health status and inhabitants are connected with health-seeking behaviours (HSB). However, knowledge of health-seeking behaviours among the vulnerable population is either lacking or negligible. This study is to assess street vendors’ health-seeking behaviour and determine the factors associated with it. The simple random sampling method and Pre-tested structured questionnaires were used in this study. This is a quantitative cross-sectional study carried out among street vendors in the selected areas of Hyderabad,
Telangana state. A descriptive analysis was performed, and the data was analysed using inferential statistics to find the association between various socio-demographic factors and health-seeking behaviour
among street vendors. In this study, a total of 200 respondents were interviewed, out of which only 194 were interviewed, whereas 6 were non-respondents. More than 40% are illiterate, and 79% were already suffering from chronic illnesses like hypertension and diabetes. These results suggest the importance of understanding the association between health seeking behaviours and associated factors—intervention efforts aimed at improving the health education of street vendors and street vendors should get health education about the harm caused by their dependency on tobacco, alcohol, and cigarettes. They are aware of chronic health illnesses, but they are not aware of the free health Insurance schemes available from the central and state governments so this information should be disseminated to street vendors.