Health seeking behavior of stroke patients:Experience from a tertiary care centre of Bangladesh

Objective: this prospective cross-sectional study was conducted to find out the health seeking behavior of stroke patients and their associates as well as to identify the barriers of service intervention. methodology: the study was done at occupational therapy department of centre for the rehabilitation of the paralyzed (crp), dhaka, bangladesh. a purposive sampling technique and pre-tested structured questionnaire were used for data collection. face-to-face interviews were taken from 133 respondents obtaining informed consent. results: majority (74.4%) of the patients took treatment from medical graduates and rest from village doctors (10.5 %) and traditional healers (15.0%). 51.1% patients knew about stroke from hospital whereas 14.3% from kobiraj/homeopath and 14.3% from their own experiences. majority (85.7 %) patients knew about the importance of initial treatment and 50.4% respondents had knowledge of better treatment facilities whereas 49.6% didn’t. participants view to seek treatment after stroke was significantly high (p<0.001) despite barriers. the barriers were lack of money (52.6%), difficulties in transportation (31.6%) and lack of interest and family support (15.8%). conclusion: the result might be useful for policy makers to take further initiatives for better management of stroke patients and to improve the quality of their life.