MECHANIC’S AND SUCHMAN’S INTELLECTIONS OF HELP SEEKING AND STAGES OF ILLNESS BEHAVIOUR AS EXPONENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE UTILIZATION OF HEALTHCARE SERVICES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Health seeking behaviour is a manifestation of the propensity to stay healthy. According to the World Health Organization (1951), health is “a complete state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. Implied in this definition is the fact that health is a utopia, in plain terms, an unattainable goal. It means that nobody is qualified to claim health. Predicated on this problematic nature of this definition, WHO (1986) effected an adjustment of this definition and presented health as, ''the extent to which an individual or group is able, to realize aspirations and satisfy needs, and on the other hand, to change or cope with the environment”. From this standpoint, health is seen as a resource for everyday transactions, instead of the object of living.

This view objectifies social and personal resources as well as physical capabilities. Many scholars had also given their definitions of health for example; Pander (1987) quoted in Etobe (2005), described health as, “The fulfillment of intrinsic and extrinsic possibilities through object-directed behaviour, effective self-care, and convivial relationships with others as well as adjusts to ensure reasonable flexibilities to achieve structural incorruptibility and congruence with the environment.” Though this view seems a bit flexible, it has not been able to point to the extent to which it can be evaluated (Etobe, 2005). In another bold relief, health is painted as going beyond a specific status and oriented towards a resounding process of change indigenous to the various definitions of health from different people. In reacting to the scenario created by these definitions of health, one can safely conclude that health is a phenomenon that presents different impressions to different people or puts differently, society that an individual lives, creates an impression of health, and influences the 
conceptualization of health for example, an individual with rashes on the skin may be classified as unhealthy in a particular society, while in another society, such an individual is classified as healthy.

Bar prejudice to the multiple views held on health, it could be regarded as a stage of life that an individual obviously functions maximally to the extent that the psychological and physical composition of an individual are logically and legitimately oriented to harnessing available opportunities and potentials for personal and communal benefits. The inspiration to satisfy the interest of society in this perspective boldly emphasizes the desirability of a convivial environment as facilitating medium for appropriate health seeking behaviour. To attain this height demands that the rubrics and standard of health must be famously entrenched in the consciousness of society, to assess specific accomplishments, reactions and responsibilities. In doing this, care must be taken to prevent the weakness of cultures from dampening the actualization of these projections if such efforts are geared towards health as an asset with multiplier utility.