Abstract
Background Tuberculosis is a historically stigmatized disease and the stigma associated with it affects the institution, community, and interpersonal factors. Therefore, understanding tuberculosis-related perceived stigma has importance in improving quality of the patients. Objective The aim of this study was to assess prevalence and factors associated with perceived stigma among patients with tuberculosis attending Wolaita Sodo University Referral Hospital, Ethiopia. Methods Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among a total of 417 tuberculosis patients who had treatment follow-up at TB clinics and were recruited for the study. Systematic random sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. A 12-item perceived TB stigma scale was used to assess tuberculosis-related perceived stigma. In addition, Oslo social support scale was used to assess social support related factors. Results Prevalence of tuberculosis-related perceived stigma by using perceived tuberculosis stigma scale was 42.4%. Patients who had pulmonary TB [AOR=2.49, (95% CI: 1.24, 4.87)], being intensive phase category [AOR=1.42, (95% CI: 1.19, 2.58)], TB/HIV coinfection [AOR= 3.54, (95% CI: 1.37, 9.12)], poor social support [AOR=2.45, (95% CI: 1.18, 5.09)], and using substance (alcohol, khat and cigarette) [AOR=1.78, (95% CI: 1.28, 3.17)] were more likely to have perceived TB stigma when compared to their counter parts. Conclusion Health education programs should be conducted to reduce TB stigma and improve patients' compliance.
Highlights
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of chronic infectious disease which is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and becomes the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide [1, 2]
Ethiopia is one of the 27 countries identified as having a high prevalence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB)
287 (68.8 %) patients were diagnosed with pulmonary TB, 270 (64.9 %) were in intensive phase of TB treatment, and 229 (54.9%) had good social support (Table 1)
Summary
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of chronic infectious disease which is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and becomes the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide [1, 2] It is a key public health concern in Ethiopia: in 2009/2010, it was the second most important cause of death [3]. Tuberculosis is a historically stigmatized disease and the stigma associated with it affects the institution, community, and interpersonal factors. Understanding tuberculosis-related perceived stigma has importance in improving quality of the patients. The aim of this study was to assess prevalence and factors associated with perceived stigma among patients with tuberculosis attending Wolaita Sodo University Referral Hospital, Ethiopia. A 12-item perceived TB stigma scale was used to assess tuberculosis-related perceived stigma. Health education programs should be conducted to reduce TB stigma and improve patients’ compliance
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