Factors Influencing Utilization of Rehabilitation Services in the Community by Families with Children with Disability in Cagayan de Oro City

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) is making efforts to collaborate governments, non-governmental organization (NGOs), and international health advocates in support of research for health in under-serves areas who have limited access to rehabilitation services (WHO, 2022). This research study helped synthesize data gaps on the factors influencing utilization of rehabilitation by families with children with disability in Cagayan de Oro City to address the lack of research on the predicament of children with disabilities. The focus is to showcase how barriers are still present in a city existing rehabilitation services. The specific objectives of the study are as follows: to determine patterns of treatment seeking behaviors in terms of utilizing rehabilitation services, to establish the identified perceived barriers, and to describe how the perceived barriers influence utilization of rehabilitation services such as therapy by families with children with disability in Cagayan de Oro City. Mixed methods exploratory sequential research design was used. Q-methodology was used and analyzed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Virmax Rotation. In this study, with the estimated number of 33 statements in the Q-set, the targeted number of participants for the Q-methodology is 32. This study revealed three prominent factors that influence the utilization of rehabilitation services by children with disabilities, namely: systemic discrimination base on differences in culture and ethnicity, socioeconomic factors such as affordability and accessibility, and predisposed health beliefs and lack of trust to health professionals. This means that improving access to health care integrated to rehabilitation is necessary to improve the health of children with disability and help them attain a better life so they can fully participate in family and community activities.