Abstract:
Background
Healthcare-seeking behaviour has been investigated to a limited extent in persons with diabetes, and the way traditional healers manage diabetes still needs exploration.
Aim
To explore healthcare-seeking behaviour and management of type 2 diabetes from the perspective of traditional healers in the folk sector to understand how traditional medicine is integrated into the professional health sector.
Design
A qualitative descriptive study.
Method
A purposeful sample of 16 traditional healers known in the area. Data were collected by individual semi-structured interviews.
Keywords
Complementary Alternative Medicine; Healthcare-seeking behaviour; Nursing; Traditional healers; Type 2 diabetes; Uganda
Citation: Fortunate Atwine, Katarina Hjelm Behaviour And Management Of Type 2 Diabetes: From Ugandan Traditional Healers’ Perspective http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijans.2016.09.002
Received: 22 March 2016, Revised: 8 August 2016, Accepted: 6 September 2016, Available online: 9 September 2016
Copyright: © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Findings
Healthcare was sought from the professional health sector, mainly from the public hospitals, before the patients switched to the traditional healers. Reasons for seeking help from traditional healers were mainly chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and the perceived failure of western medicine to manage diabetes. The cost at the healers’ facilities also influenced healthcare seeking because it was perceived to be affordable as it was negotiable and accessible because it was always available. Traditional medicine therapies of patients with diabetes were herbal medicine, nutritional products and counselling, but many patients whose conditions were difficult to manage were told to return to the public hospitals in the professional health sector.
Conclusion
Healthcare seeking was inconsistent in character, with a switch between different healthcare providers. Living conditions including treatment costs, healthcare organization, patients’ health beliefs and general condition seemed to influence healthcare seeking practice.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Authors’ Contributions
Both authors were involved in the study design, data analysis and manuscript preparation.
FA was also responsible for data collection. KH provided the overall supervision, technical guidance and material support, and both authors were involved in report writing and approved the final manuscript.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by grants from the Linnaeus-Palme Foundation, Swedish International Development Aid (SIDA), which enabled joint international collaboration in Sweden and Uganda.
