Decision-making process of Kala Azar care: results from a qualitative study carried out in disease endemic areas of Nepal

Background:Analysis of consumer decision making in the health sector is a complex process of comparing feasible alternatives and evaluating the levels of satisfaction associated with the relevant options.This paper makes an attempt to understand how and why consumers make specific decisions,what motivates them to adopt a specific health intervention,and what features they find attractive in each of the options.Method:The study used a descriptive-explanatory design to analyze the factors determining the choices of healthcare providers.Information was collected through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews.Results:The results suggest that the decision making related to seeking healthcare for Kala Azar(KA)treatment is a complex,interactive process.Patients and family members follow a well-defined road map for decision making.The process of decision making starts from the recognition of healthcare needs and is then modified by a number of other factors,such as indigenous knowledge,healthcare alternatives,and available resources.Household and individual characteristics also play important roles in facilitating the process of decision making.The results from the group discussions and in-depth interviews are consistent with the idea that KA patients and family members follow the rational approach of weighing the costs against the benefits of using specific types of medical care.Conclusion:The process of decision making related to seeking healthcare follows a complex set of steps and many of the potential factors affect the decision making in a non-linear fashion.Our analysis suggests that it is possible to derive a generalized road map of the decision-making process starting from the recognition of healthcare needs,and then modifying it to show the influences of indigenous knowledge,healthcare alternatives,and available resources.

Using geospatial social media data for infectious disease studies: a systematic review

Geospatial social media(GSM)data has been increasingly used in public health due to its rich,timely,and accessible spatial information,particularly in infectious disease research.This review synthesized 86 research articles that use GSM data in infectious diseases published between December 2013 and March 2022.These articles cover 12 infectious disease types ranging from respiratory infectious diseases to sexually transmitted diseases with spatial levels varying from the neighborhood,county,state,and country.We categorized these studies into three major infectious disease research domains:surveillance,explanation,and prediction.With the assistance of advanced computing,statistical and spatial methods,GSM data has been widely and deeply applied to these domains,particularly in surveillance and explanation domains.We further identified four knowledge gaps in terms of contextual information use,application scopes,spatiotemporal dimension,and data limitations and proposed innovation opportunities for future research.Ourfindings will contribute to a better understanding of using GSM data in infectious diseases studies and provide insights into strategies for using GSM data more effectively in future research.