Abstract

Background: The proportion of the elderly population is gradually increasing in India. Hence, the need for the geriatric health-care services is on demand. For such services, the treatment-seeking behavior with associated reasons needs to be assessed. Objectives: To ascertain the treatment-seeking behavior of the elderly people in Haryana.
Materials and Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted on the elderly of Haryana with the help of semi-structured interview schedule. Total sample size of 400 consenting elderly people from the eight selected areas (four rural and four urban) of Haryana was considered for this objective.
Results: The study showed that availability and effectiveness are the main reasons behind the choice of therapy and resource. Allopathy was the preferred therapy, and owing to the availability factor, quacks were approached as the first choice, who were later replaced by allopathic doctors (MBBS) in the third stage of health-care resource choice. Conclusion: Allopathy remains as the top choice of therapy, followed by ayurveda. Immediate availability of quacks is the major factor for their choice as first health-care resources.