A new look to the coping strategy preferences of TB patients: Qualitative Explorations among TB patients in Northwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: TB patients around the globe had been found to experience a host of psychosocial adjustment difficulties. It is therefore expected that they will employ strategies to cope with such difficulties. The studies conducted so far, had geared towards strategies employed by TB patients to cope with financial burdens. Hence, the objective of the present study was to explore the cognitive and behavioral strategies TB patients employed to cope with their psychosocial burdens. Methods & Materials: The study employed qualitative design. Data were collected using semi-structured interview protocol. Purposive sampling was used and data were collected from a health center in Northwestern Ethiopia till saturation is reached. Interviews were tape-recorded; transcribed and thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: In this study it was revealed that self- and others- discrimination, fear of transmitting their illness to others, anxiety, depression and shame were the main psychosocial burdens experienced by TB patients. In addition, TB patients employed a host of cognitive and behavioral coping strategies. Specifically information collection, accepting, mental readiness, religious coping were cognitive strategies; and distancing oneself, hiding information, instrumental actions, planning and struggling were the behavioral strategies TB patients used to cope with the psychosocial burdens. Receiving instrumental support from others had helped the patients to cope not only with the psychosocial challenges but also with economic burdens. Conclusion: TB patients had found to employ strategies that might hamper TB control campaigns and strategies that were instrumental to their early diagnosis and treatment adherence. Studies on TB patients coping strategies need to be conducted at a wider scale so that tailored TB control campaigns could be designed. The study has unique contribution in that it had examined the cognitive and behavioral strategies TB patients had used to cope with their psychosocial burdens.