Introduction and Aim: Understanding health-seeking behaviors and determining factors help governments to adequately allocate and manage existing health resources, particularly in developing countries. The aim of the study was to examine the health-seeking behaviors of people in using two public and private health facilities and to assess the factors that determine health care utilization in Northern Cyprus.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by the researchers from Near East University. Those aged 15 years and above who attended Trenyolu polyclinics and Girne hospital polyclinics were targeted and a total of 507 people participated. Data was collected using a structured interviewer‑administered questionnaire. A non-probability convenient sampling method was used and  Health-seeking behaviors were measured using four indicators including routine medical check-ups, preferences of health care facilities, admission while having health problems, and refusal of health services while sick. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression analyses were done to explore factors influencing the use of health services. Authorities from the clinics have given permission to conduct the study and a written consent was taken from the participants.

Results: About 77.3% of the participants reported to have visited health centers while they had any health problems. More than half (51.7%) of them stated to have a routine medical check-up during the previous year, while 12.2% of them refused to seek health care when fallen ill during the last five years. Of all, 61.9% of them reported preferring public health services. The factors such as having higher education and income level, having private insurance or no insurance, fewer children, smaller family and better perception on their health were significantly associated with the preference of the private sector. Current smokers (OR= 1.92, 95% CI: 1.17-3.14), having chronic disease (OR=2.05, 95% CI: 1.952.16), having poor perceptions on health (OR=2.33; 95% CI: 1.563.48), and spending less than 500TL on health during the last three months (OR=2.08, 95% CI: 1.43- 3.01) had about twice the odds of having routine checkups. High education (OR=1.87, 95% CI: 1.38-2.55) shown to be the positive predictor for the health seeking behaviors while ill, whereas having self-care problems (OR=0.18, 95% CI: 0.08-0.40) and having a moderate income (OR=0.68, 95% CI: 0.57-0.81) were inversely associated with seeking health care.

Discussion and Recommendations: The utilization of public and private health facilities revealed evident disparities in socioeconomic characteristics of participants. The health-seeking behaviors was determined by need factors including chronic diseases status and having poor health perception and also by enabling factors such as education, income, insurance status, ability to pay by own. These findings highlight the need for further nationwide studies and provide evidence for specific strategies to reduce the socioeconomic inequalities in the use of health care services.

Keywords: Health seeking behaviors, Public and Private Polyclinics, Determining Factors, Health Utilization, Northern Cyprus