Educational Level, Sex and Church Affiliation on Health Seeking Behaviour among Parishioners in Makurdi Metropolis of Benue State

Abstract

The study investigated the impact of educational level, sex and church affiliation on health seeking behavior among parishioners in Makurdi metropolis.448 participants were randomly selected to participate in the study. A self constructed and validated health seeking behaviorscale was used to collect data. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha. It has a coefficient of .778.There hypotheses were tested and the finding were as follows: Seeking behavior, F (1,440)= 103.82, P<.001. Specifically, participants with high educational level reported higher score on health seeking behavior scale. Also sex was statically significant on health seeking behaviour, F (1,440) = 45.76, P<.001. Specifically Catholics engage more in health seeking behavior than non-Catholics. The study suggested that educational policy should be adequately implemented in order to benefit all, while government should also adopt a gendered approach to men’s health policy and church leaders and health promoters should work hand in hand and possibly use church platform to advocate health policy

Keywords: Educational level, sex, church affiliation, health seeking, behaviour.