Knowledge of disease and treatment among tuberculosis patients in Mwanza, Tanzania
OBJECTIVE: To determine patients' general knowledge of tuberculosis (TB) and the management of the disease.
DESIGN: From 7 May to 7 July 1998, 296 pulmonary tuberculosis patients were consecutively interviewed. The majority of the respondents (89%) were out-patients. Questions were based on Tanzanian National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) treatment guidelines for teaching tuberculosis patients.
RESULTS: When correct answers to five out of seven questions asked was regarded as satisfactory knowledge, only 30% of the study population had satisfactory knowledge of disease and treatment. Persons with information on TB prior to diagnosis and those with higher education were more likely to have satisfactory knowledge (OR 9.23 and 19.93; 95%CI 2.77–31.08 and 5.74–69.19, respectively). There was a negative correlation between the level of knowledge and patients' age (−r = 0.181, P = 0.01). Knowledge was not significantly affected by sex or area of residence. The two most important sources of information about TB were health workers and former TB patients.
CONCLUSIONS: Using NTP guidelines as reference, a substantial number of patients interviewed in health facilities in the study period had an unsatisfactory knowledge of TB disease and its management. The study did identify factors associated with satisfactory knowledge that could assist in designing health education intervention strategies.
Keywords: Tanzania; knowledge; tuberculosis
Document Type: Regular Paper
Affiliations: 1: Bugando Medical Centre, Mwanza, Tanzania 2: Centre for International Health, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; and Department of Thoracic Medicine, Haukeland Hospital, Bergen, Norway
Publication date: 01 November 2000
The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IJTLD) is for clinical research and epidemiological studies on lung health, including articles on TB, TB-HIV and respiratory diseases such as COVID-19, asthma, COPD, child lung health and the hazards of tobacco and air pollution. Individuals and institutes can subscribe to the IJTLD online or in print – simply email us at [email protected] for details.
The IJTLD is dedicated to understanding lung disease and to the dissemination of knowledge leading to better lung health. To allow us to share scientific research as rapidly as possible, the IJTLD is fast-tracking the publication of certain articles as preprints prior to their publication. Read fast-track articles.
- Editorial Board
- Information for Authors
- Subscribe to this Title
- International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
- Public Health Action
- Ingenta Connect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites
- Access Key
- Free content
- Partial Free content
- New content
- Open access content
- Partial Open access content
- Subscribed content
- Partial Subscribed content
- Free trial content