A study of health seeking behaviour and assessment of knowledge regarding tuberculosis amongst new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis

 

Anil Maske¹, Sachin Chaudhari^2*, S V Birajdar³

 

 

Abstract              Background: India is a developing country and caters almost one-fourth of the burden of Tuberculosis (TB) cases worldwide. Also we have a huge number of illiterate population and a wide variety of health services causing a big problem for TB control. Aims and objectives: To study health seeking behaviour and assessment of knowledge regarding tuberculosis amongst new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. Methodology: A cross sectional, descriptive study of sputum smear positive 100 patients, who were interviewed by using a predesigned questionnaire. For assessment of knowledge among TB patients, the questionnaire. The data obtained is then statistically analysed. Results: Only 37.0% patients knew the symptoms of TB. About 56.0% knew that TB is an infectious disease while 90.0% knew that it is a curable disease. All patients (100.0%) knew that treatment of TB is free and 94.0% agreed that TB is a social stigma. Only 28% and 33.0% knew the most common body part affected and the time for the disappearance of symptoms respectively. About 82.0% agreed that TB may become life threatening if untreated and 84.0% knew the duration of treatment for complete cure. The first consultation of 64.0% TB patients was with the private practitioners. The rest (36.0%) visited government health centre. Conclusion: Socio-economical development along with improvement in the literacy rate should be the prime areas of focus so as to change the health seeking behaviour and shorten the delay in diagnosis of tuberculosis.

Key words: Health seeking behaviour, knowledge, Tuberculosis.