Health-Seeking Behaviour amongst Kenyan Youths: Focus on Social Work Students at Kaimosi Friends University

Abstract

This research study was conducted in February, 2025, at amongst Social Work students at Kaimosi Friends University. The goal of the study was to unearth the health-seeking behaviour of Kenyan youths using a case study of Social Work Students at Kaimosi Friends University. The explorative research design was deployed since it was a fact-finding mission aimed at unearthing health-seeking behaviours amongst Kenyan youths. From a sampling frame of 6,000 undergraduate students of diverse programmes, all the 130 first-year to fourth year Social Work students were purposively selected for the study. Primary data collection methods that were used are: observation; structured interviews; focus-group discussions; and key informant interviews. Secondary data relied on document content analysis of online journal articles and government reports. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used in data synthesis. The respondents who reported to rarely suffering minor ailments were the majority at 76.2 percent whereas those who often experienced minor ailments were 23.8 percent. The students who never sought treatment for minor issues were 11.5 percent; those who did so occasionally were 80 percent; while those who always treated minor ailments were 8.5 percent. Students who rarely suffered a major ailment were the overwhelming majority at 96.2 percent while those who often did so were a paltry 3.8 percent. The students who never sought treatment for a major issue were 15.4 percent; those who did so occasionally were 61.5 percent; whereas 23.1 percent always went for treatment. These findings suggest that there is need to intensify awareness campaigns on the need to reinforce regular hospital checkups and treatments regarding both minor and major ailments for overall wellbeing.