Exploratory study into the awareness of heart diseases among Emirati women (UAE) and their health seeking behaviour- a qualitative study
Exploratory study into the awareness of heart diseases among Emirati women (UAE) and their health seeking behaviour- a qualitative study
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DOI：
10.1186/s12905-016-0350-2
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发表时间：
2016-11-07
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Al Suwaidi, Meera
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Khan, Sarah;Khoory, Ayesha;Al Suwaidi, Meera
背景：2010年，心血管疾病是阿拉伯联合酋长国（阿联酋）妇女死亡的主要原因。随着心脏病风险因素的增加，预计未来20年阿联酋的心脏病患者将增加两倍。研究表明，患有心脏病的年轻女性第一年的存活率低于男性。女性出现的心脏病症状范围比男性更广；不认识非典型症状可能解释了妇女心脏病后寻求治疗的延误和预后不良。在中东地区，没有对妇女对心脏病的认识进行过已知的研究。方法：本定性研究采用社会建构主义和解释主义认识论方法，探讨阿联酋妇女对心脏病的认知和求医行为。采用方便抽样方法招募了41名阿联酋妇女。通过三个焦点小组和六个深度半结构化访谈来获取数据。对录音转录和翻译后的数据进行主题内容分析。结果：阿联酋妇女对心脏病的了解有限。妇女通常不知道妇女通常经历的非典型症状，但她们确定了与心脏病有关的大多数危险因素。缺乏对疾病严重程度和症状的认识、社会文化影响以及对医疗保健系统的不信任被认为是寻求及时治疗的主要障碍。结论：这项研究清楚地确定了心脏病知识的差距和不准确，这可能导致阿联酋妇女延迟就医行动，并可能导致预后较差。阿联酋缺乏对妇女进行心血管疾病教育的举措，错误地认为这是阿联酋妇女不太关心的问题。这项研究的结果提供了明确的迹象，表明需要加强医疗保健系统的问责制，并在阿联酋开展与文化相关的、性别特定的、以年龄为重点的、与心脏病相关的公共卫生宣传活动。
Background: Cardiovascular diseases were the leading cause of death in women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2010. The UAE is expected to experience a tripling of heart diseases in the next two decades as risk factors for heart diseases increase. Research shows that first year survival rates of younger women suffering from a heart attack are lower than in men. Women present with a wider range of symptoms for heart diseases than men; non-recognition of atypical symptoms may explain the delay in seeking treatment and poor prognosis following heart diseases in women. No known study on awareness of heart diseases among women has been carried out in the Middle Eastern region.Methods: Social constructionist and interpretivist epistemological approaches have been considered in this qualitative study to explore the awareness of heart diseases and the health seeking behavior of Emirati women. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 41 Emirati women. Three focus groups and six in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain data. Thematic content analysis was applied to the data following transcription and translation of recordings.Results: Emirati women had limited knowledge on heart diseases. Women were generally unaware of the atypical symptoms, commonly experienced by women however they identified most risk factors associated with heart diseases. Lack of awareness of disease severity and symptoms, sociocultural influences and distrust in the healthcare system were considered the main barriers to seeking prompt treatment.Conclusions: This study clearly identified gaps and inaccuracies in knowledge of heart diseases, which could contribute to delayed health seeking action and possibly poorer prognosis among Emirati women. Absence of initiatives to educate women on cardiovascular diseases in UAE has erroneously deemed it a less serious concern among Emirati women. The findings from this study provide clear indications of the need to increase accountability of the healthcare system and to develop culturally relevant, gender specific, age focused, heart diseases related public health awareness campaigns in UAE.