ArticlePloS one2021
The circuits of healthcare: Understanding healthcare seeking behaviour-A qualitative study with tuberculosis patients in Lisbon, Portugal.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Factors associated with tuberculosis patient delay: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Experiences of people diagnosed with malaria regarding signs and symptoms at a selected village in the Vhembe District, Limpopo province, South Africa.Curationis · 2026Article
- Wastewater and environmental surveillance as an early warning system and public health tool for mpox outbreak detection and management: a scoping review.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- A rapid review of the causes of diagnostic and treatment delays for tuberculosis in low-burden countries.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2025Review
- From Habit to Justification: A Dual Process Theory Approach to Primary Care Bypassing in China.Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy · 2025Article
- Urgent Care Centre Eligible Presentations in a Remote Emergency Department.Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA · 2025Article
- Household healthcare seeking patterns for emergent ill-health in Migori, Western Kenya.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Article
- "You find yourself in a very humiliating situation": experiences of people living with post-tuberculosis lung disease in Brazil.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Investigating the role of symptom valorisation in tuberculosis patient delay in urban areas in Portugal.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Tuberculosis and Migrant Pathways in an Urban Setting: A Mixed-Method Case Study on a Treatment Centre in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Portugal.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
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3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUnderstanding health delivery service from a patient´s perspective, including factors influencing healthcare seeking behaviour, is crucial when treating diseases, particularly infectious ones, like tuberculosis. This study aims to trace and contextualise the trajectories patients pursued towards diagnosis and treatment, while discussing key factors associated with treatment delays. Tuberculosis patients' pathways may serve as indicator of the difficulties the more vulnerable sections of society experience in obtaining adequate care.
methodsWe conducted 27 semi-structured interviews with tuberculosis patients attending a treatment centre in a suburban area of Lisbon. We invited nationals and migrant patients in active treatment to participate by sharing their illness experiences since the onset of symptoms until the present. The Health Belief Model was used as a reference framework to consolidate the qualitative findings.
resultsBy inductive analysis of all interviews, we categorised participants' healthcare seeking behaviour into 4 main types, related to the time participants took to actively search for healthcare (patient delay) and time the health system spent to diagnose and initiate treatment (health system delay). Each type of healthcare seeking behaviour identified (inhibited, timely, prolonged, and absent) expressed a mindset influencing the way participants sought healthcare. The emergency room was the main entry point where diagnostic care cascade was initiated. Primary Health Care was underused by participants.
conclusionsThe findings support that healthcare seeking behaviour is not homogeneous and influences diagnostic delays. If diagnostic delays are to be reduced, the identification of behavioural patterns should be considered when designing measures to improve health services' delivery. Healthcare professionals should be sensitised and perform continuous capacity development training to deal with patients´ needs. Inhibited and prolonged healthcare seeking behaviour contributes significantly to diagnostic delays. These behaviours should be detected and reverted. Timely responses, from patients and the healthcare system, should be promoted.
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