Access to tuberculosis information and its influence on health-seeking behaviour among tuberculosis patients at one healthcare centre in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease that has caused unprecedented suffering to millions of people, not to mention its impact on the country’s economy. In spite of having a cure, numerous deaths continue to occur as a result of this virulent disease. The disease has outstripped HIV as the leading cause of death among infectious diseases. The main purpose of the study was to find out how public discourse on tuberculosis affects the self- disclosure and health-seeking behavior among TB patients. The study aimed to answer the following research questions: How do TB patients, TB survivors, TB patients’ kin and TB healthcare workers access information on the disease? What kind of information do TB patients, TB survivors, TB patients’ kin and healthcare workers have about the disease? How does public discourse on TB inhibit self-disclosure and health-seeking among TB patients.The study adopted a qualitative approach to generate and analyze data. Twenty five participants who included six TB patients, five TB survivors, eight TB patients’ kin and six healthcare workers were selected to participate in the study using a purposive sampling technique. Data was generated using unstructured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data, and some of the key emerging themes in this study were that having TB was seen as a death sentence and a sign of bad luck or witchcraft by most of the TB patients and TB survivors. Findings from this study indicate that despite the existence of multiple channels of communication, majority of the TB patients, TB survivors and TB patients’ kin got their TB knowledge from the health care workers and friends. This study also established that despite the existence of multiple channels of communication, both correct and incorrect information on tuberculosis was evident in all the four different categories of respondents who were interviewed. The study further revealed that health-seeking behavior of TB patients is largely determined by the kind of information that they have about the disease. Majority of the survivors reported that they would have avoided delay in seeking healthcare if they had access to correct information about TB. Access to correct and timely information of TB is crucial for the control of this disease. The major recommendation from the study is that public awareness campaigns on tuberculosis need to be intensified all over the country so that more and more people are not only able to access information on tuberculosis, but also correct information about the disease.