Knowledge and Practices of Traditional Health among Adults of Bansgadhi Municipality, Bardiya District: Community- based Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Traditional health is the primary health care based on the cultural conception, beliefs, experience, and widely practiced health system of Nepal for the maintenance of health. The healing practices are carried out by both academically trained as well as traditional healers available in the community. The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge and practices of people living in Bansgadhi Municipality regarding traditional health.

Methods: A quantitative community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 196 adults living in Bansgadhi Municipality, Bardiya district. Ethical approval was taken before data collection. Semi-structured questionnaires were used for data collection through direct interviews with the respondents. Simple random sampling was used for the selection of households for data collection. The collected data were coded and entered in Epidata and then exported to SPSS.

Results: Among the respondents, 58.2% of respondents had poor knowledge, while the remaining respondents had either moderate (20.9%) or good (20.9%) knowledge of traditional health. On the other hand, the practices of three-fourths of respondents (77.6%) were poor.

Conclusions: More than half of respondents had poor knowledge and unsatisfactory traditional health practices. This highlights the need for awareness and integration of traditional practices.