Patients’ Perception Of Etiology, Prevention And Treatment For Tuberculosis, A Survey Of Tuberculosis Patients Seen At A Rural District Hospital In Enugu State

ABSTRACT

Tuberculosis is described as a global emergency and it is found more in

developing countries. For this reason, a descriptive cross-sectional survey was

conducted among TB patients seen at District Hospital Enugu Ezike, Enugu

State. The objectives of the study were: to assess the level of knowledge of the

respondents about the cause of tuberculosis, to assess the level of knowledge of

preventive practices on tuberculosis among the respondents and to assess the

level of knowledge of community treatment facilities among the respondents.

Methods:

This was a study among 360 patients in District Hospital Enugu Ezike in Enugu

state. Designed questionnaires were administered by trained interviewers to

obtain information about their perception of cause, prevention and treatment for

TB.

Results:

About 56.7% of the respondents were not aware of the cause of TB. 44.4% of

the respondents got the knowledge about TB through the health workers. Up to

83.3% of the patients could mention at least one sign or symptom of TB

correctly. Also, 71.7% of the respondents stated that TB could be prevented by

proper disposal of sputum while 68.9% were aware that sneezing and coughing

without covering the nose and mouth enhances the spread of TB. The result also

shows that only 15.3% sought for treatment from hospitals/health centres on

noticing the first sign of TB while majority went elsewhere (chemist shop and

herbalist) until their condition got worse before they went to hospitals. Majority

(93.3%) of the respondents indicated that orthodox medicine was better for

treating TB while 93.9% stated that TB could be totally cured. Only18.1% were

aware of a vaccine against TB while 32.5% were in support of immunizing

children against TB. 74.4% of the respondents indicated that they were aware

that there is a TB treatment centre in their community. About 63.6% stated that

they travel for more than 5km before they could access TB treatment.

The Pearson’s chi-square used in testing null hypotheses I, II and III indicated

values of 0.299, 0.287and 0.372 respectively. These results were greater than

the statistically significant differences at 0.05 level of significance, therefore the

null hypotheses I, II and III all were accepted.

Conclusion

Despite the fact that there were a high level of awareness of the symptoms,

prevention, as well as curability of TB, the same cannot be said about causation.

Awareness about availability of TB vaccine was poor. This study has therefore

demonstrated the need for more health education programmes especially

through the media that would improve and sustain the people’s awareness aboutvthe TB scourge.