Health care seeking behaviour of patients with sexually transmitted diseases: determinants of delay behaviour

The study aimed to determine the factors associated with a delay in seeking health care for symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among a sample of 1482 patients attending STD clinics. Of the sample 78% were male, 58% sought help from the clinic within the first 6 days of noticing symptoms, 24% waited between 7 and 10 days and 17% waited longer than 10 days before seeking health care. Patients who delayed were those who treated themselves prior to seeking health care, who were female, whose friends waited before seeking treatment, who held misconceptions regarding the cause of STDs, who perceived STDs not to be serious and who valued personal autonomy in sexual behaviours less and had less positive outcome expectations of refusing sex. The data suggest that targeted interventions should be directed specifically at women and the youth. Early health care seeking could be facilitated through improved basic knowledge regarding STDs, control over one's own sexual behaviour and social support for early health care seeking. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.