Health Problems and Health Seeking Behaviour of Hospital Cleaners in a Tertiary Health Facility in South West Nigeria

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the prevalent health problems and also investigate the health seeking behavior among hospital cleaners of Federal Medical Center, Owo, Ondo State. Nigeria. A cross-sectional study of 249 hospital cleaning staff was conducted. Semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaires were used to obtain information. Descriptive statistics were done and associations were explored with the chi square test at 5% level of significance. The mean age of respondent was 34 ±7 years, 142(57.0%) attended secondary school. The workplace health problems of the cleaning staff in the month preceding the study included low back pains 63.1%, muscular and joint pains 38.6% and skin rashes 14.9%, 15.7% had eye problems. The chronic health problems reported among the cleaners were hypertension 5.6%, asthma (0.8%) and epilepsy (0.4%). Some ( 3.2%) of the respondents did not seek healthcare at FMC, Owo because they felt they were not being cared for while 3.6% believed they were healthy and others 4.4% believed the services were too expensive. Like other health workers, hospital cleaners as shown in this study, also have health needs which must be met. Services of the hospital can be made available to the cleaners at subsidized costs.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n6p187