Knowledge, attitude, practices, and determinants of them toward tuberculosis among social media users in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that causes thousands of deaths in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of the 30 high TB burden countries. In this study, we aimed to assess the knowledge, practices, and attitude toward TB, and to determine the factors associated with them among people who have internet access in Bangladesh. Design, Setting, and Participant: A web-based anonymous cross-sectional survey was conducted from May 20 to August 10, 2021, among people (age> = 18 years) who have internet access in Bangladesh. A comprehensive consent statement was included at the beginning of the survey and informed consent was taken. This study's outcomes of interest were respondents' adequate knowledge, good practices, and positive attitudes toward TB and were coded binarily. The association between respondents' socio-demographic factors and knowledge, attitude, and practices toward TB was inspected using the Chi-square test and Multivariable logistic regression model. Among 1,180 respondents, 58.64% were males, and 62.37% were married. The majority of the participants (78.28%) were aged between 18 to 44 years. Overall adequate knowledge, favorable attitudes, and good practices about TB were found respectively in 47.8%, 44.75%, and 31.19% of the people with internet access in Bangladesh. Almost the same sets of associated factors were found to influence adequate knowledge, favorable attitudes, and good practices toward TB among social media users in Bangladesh. Males, young, unmarried, social media users with higher education, and urban social media users were more likely to have adequate knowledge, favorable attitudes, and good practices toward TB. Policymakers need to design programs and interventions to improve knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward TB in Bangladesh with a particular focus on females, young and older people, people who live in rural areas, and illiterate/less educated people. Social media can be a powerful medium for disseminating scientific facts on TB and other diseases.