The aim of the study was to qualitatively explore and compare the beliefs and perceptions of adult men and women towards Tuberculosis (TB) and TB outpatients in a rural community in Ntcheu district in Malawi January 2011.
Method:
This qualitative research study was conducted in January 2012 and used focus groups discussions and individual in-depth interviews to collect data. A total of eight FGDs and 16 In Depth Interviews (IDI) were conducted in Ntcheu district in Malawi. Data were collected among adult males and females aged between 18-49 who had ever had and those who had never had TB. Discussions were audio taped, translated and transcribed verbatim into English and analysed using MAXQDA software for qualitative analysis.
Results: The local word for TB is “Big Cough”. There were different levels of knowledge about TB between people who have never had and those who had ever had TB. People who had ever had TB could explain different types of TB and discussed multiple symptoms of TB as compared to those that had never had TB. There were positive attitudes towards early diagnosis, treatment and adherence among most respondents. Most respondents believed that TB is curable and that they would go for diagnosis if they had symptoms suggestive of TB. However, they expressed some apprehension based on their belief about the contagiousness of TB and the social consequences of being diagnosed. This apprehension did affect participants’ responses about seeking diagnosis and treatment. Issues of misdiagnosis were also reported where people with symptoms suggestive of TB would travel to the healthy facility repeatedly without being diagnosed with TB. This was another potential barrier to early diagnosis. Conclusion: Early diagnosis of TB among this rural community is affected by several factors. While respondents demonstrated intentions to go for early diagnosis through their belief in the curability of TB, these intentions were obstructed by people’s perception of the severity of the consequences of being found with TB as well as low knowledge on contagiousness of TB. A combination of mass media and interactive communication campaigns covering TB symptoms, contagiousness, addressing issues of stigma related to TB as well as distinguishing TB from HIV can help address the barriers to early diagnosis seeking behaviour.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/12554 |
| Date | 19 March 2013 |
| Creators | Sikwese, Simon Edingtone |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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