Table 3 Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents seeking care at drug shops in intervention and comparison arms at baseline (2013) and end-line (2015) in South Western Uganda
Background characteristics | Baseline (2013) | End-line (2015) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intervention arm (%) | Comparison arm (%) | p value | Intervention arm (%) | Comparison arm (%) | p value | |
NÂ =Â 212 | NÂ =Â 216 | NÂ =Â 285 | NÂ =Â 268 | |||
Care-seeker/child characteristics | ||||||
 Categorical variables | ||||||
  Child’s symptom or sign | ||||||
   Fever | 128 (60.4) | 111 (51.4) | 0.215 | 172 (61.2) | 112 (43.2) | 0.165 |
   Cough | 133 (62.7) | 148 (68.5) | 0.340 | 191 (68.0) | 148 (57.0) | 0.077 |
   Rapid or difficult breathing | 44 (20.8) | 42 (19.4) | 0.855 | 133 (47.3) | 26 (10.0) | < 0.001 |
   Diarrhoea | 70 (33.0) | 44 (20.4) | 0.030 | 60 (21.4) | 42 (16.2) | 0.266 |
   Other symptom | 58 (27.4) | 43 (19.9) | 0.376 | 91 (32.4) | 71 (27.4) | 0.525 |
  Child’s sex | ||||||
   Female | 118 (55.7) | 111 (51.4) | 0.421 | 128 (46.4) | 146 (56.8) | 0.079 |
  Care-seeker’s sex | ||||||
   Female | 162 (76.4) | 173 (80.1) | 0.558 | 242 (87.7) | 208 (80.9) | 0.364 |
   Whether respondent had ever attended school | 196 (92.5) | 209 (96.8) | 0.161 | 243 (88.0) | 225 (87.6) | 0.928 |
  Highest level of school |  |  | 0.164 |  |  | 0.843 |
   Primary | 123 (58.6) | 109 (50.5) |  | 126 (44.2) | 104 (38.8) |  |
   O-level | 59 (28.1) | 76 (35.2) | 90 (31.6) | 85 (31.7) |  | |
   A-level and higher | 12 (5.7) | 24 (11.1) | 21 (7.4) | 36 (13.4) |  | |
   None | 18 (8.5) | 7 (3.2) | 48 (16.8) | 43 (16.0) |  | |
  Respondent’s occupation |  |  | 0.145 |  |  | 0.729 |
   Unemployed | 9 (4.2) | 41 (19.0) |  | 39 (13.7) | 24 (9.0) |  |
   Housewife | 25 (11.9) | 53 (24.5) | 94 (33.0) | 56 (20.9) |  | |
   Self employed | 92 (43.8) | 87 (40.3) | 76 (26.7) | 110 (41.0) |  | |
   Civil servant | 6 (2.8) | 5 (2.3) | 11 (3.9) | 12 (4.5) |  | |
   Other | 80 (38.1) | 30 (13.9) | 65 (22.7) | 66 (24.6) |  | |
  Perceived severity of illness |  |  | 0.504 |  |  | 0.866 |
   Very severe | 41 (19.3) | 26 (12.0) |  | 35 (12.7) | 35 (13.6) |  |
   Moderately severe | 104 (49.1) | 114 (52.8) | 188 (68.1) | 164 (63.8) |  | |
   Not severe | 67 (31.6) | 76 (35.2) | 53 (19.2) | 58 (22.6) |  | |
   Time illness was noticed |  |  | 0.086 |  |  | 0.627 |
   Less than 24 h | 46 (21.7) | 90 (41.7) |  | 81 (29.4) | 75 (29.2) |  |
   Between 24 and 48 h ago | 75 (35.4) | 82 (38.0) | 105 (38.0) | 125 (48.6) |  | |
   More than 48 h ago | 78 (36.8) | 43 (19.9) | 88 (31.9) | 56 (21.8) |  | |
   Do not know | 13 (6.1) | 1 (0.46) | 2 (0.72) | 1 (0.39) |  | |
  Sought care elsewhere prior to drug shop visit | 59 (27.8) | 52 (24.1) | 0.628 | 53 (19.2) | 57 (22.2) | 0.736 |
  How care-seeker decided to buy medicine |  |  | 0.010 |  |  | 0.003 |
   Knew medicine or was advised by friend | 25 (26.3) | 53 (38.4) |  | 29 (27.4) | 55 (44.0) |  |
   Advised by drug seller | 70 (73.7) | 85 (61.6) |  | 77 (72.6) | 70 (56.0) |  |
 Continuous variables | ||||||
  Mean age of child (in months) | 23.5 (20.0–27.0) | 21.5 (17.1–25.9) | 0.432 | 21.7 (19.2–24.2) | 25.8 (23.1–28.4) | 0.990 |
  Mean caretaker age (in years) | 30.3 (28.9–31.8) | 28.0 (26.5–29.8) | 0.034 | 29.3 (27.8–30.7) | 30.8 (29.2–32.3) | 0.939 |
 Drug shop characteristics | ||||||
  Reason for seeking care at drug shop | ||||||
   Short distance to drug shop | 70 (33.0) | 138 (63.9) | 0.024 | 132 (47.8) | 193 (75.1) | 0.013 |
   Open all time | 36 (17.0) | 106 (49.1) | 0.009 | 85 (30.8) | 118 (45.9) | 0.176 |
   Can borrow medicine | 33 (15.6) | 82 (38.0) | 0.019 | 103 (37.3) | 92 (35.8) | 0.881 |
   Drug seller is my friend | 37 (17.5) | 69 (31.9) | 0.098 | 156 (56.5) | 96 (37.4) | 0.050 |
   Regular supply of drugs | 51 (24.1) | 157 (72.7) | < 0.001 | 92 (33.3) | 128 (49.8) | 0.180 |
   Good customer service | 76 (35.9) | 133 (61.6) | 0.041 | 164 (59.4) | 163 (63.4) | 0.730 |
   Recommended to me | 11 (5.2) | 30 (13.9) | 0.099 | 94 (34.0) | 30 (11.7) | 0.056 |
   Has good or trained staff | 32 (15.1) | 118 (54.6) | 0.008 | 123 (44.6) | 129 (50.2) | 0.667 |
   Other | 21 (10.0) | 8 (3.7) | 0.234 | 18 (6.5) | 6 (2.3) | 0.328 |
  Time to get to drug shop (min) |  |  | 0.012 |  |  | < 0.001 |
   < 15 | 67 (31.8) | 94 (43.5) |  | 95 (34.4) | 124 (48.3) |  |
   15–30 | 81 (38.4) | 70 (32.4) |  | 86 (31.2) | 95 (37.0) |  |
   30–60 | 41 (19.4) | 35 (16.2) |  | 67 (24.3) | 30 (11.7) |  |
   > 60 | 22 (10.4) | 17 (7.9) |  | 28 (10.1) | 8 (3.1) |  |
  If care-seeker paid for diagnostic tests | 51 (19.0) | 195 (90.7) | < 0.001 | 26 (9.4) | 1 (0.4) | < 0.001 |
  Ability to meet treatment costs | 50 (89.3) | 175 (92.6) | 0.293 | 259 (93.8) | 249 (96.9) | 0.071 |