A cross sectional study on knowledge, attitude and practice towards tuberculosis among health care workers

Abstract

Health care providers play a major role in the management of tuberculosis (TB). The knowledge, attitude and practice towards TB in health care providers will have an impact on the treatment success or failure. Studies have reported that inadequate knowledge of the health care providers led to the delivery of improper counselling content to the recipients. We assessed the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) towards tuberculosis among health care workers in and around Chennai. A cross sectional study was conducted among 382 health care workers of the chest and tuberculosis department of government hospitals and directly observed treatment short-course clinics. The principal investigator administered a structured and validated questionnaire to the study participants. Around 500 healthcare workers were approached, and 382 showed interest to sign the informed consent. A majority (70%) of the study participants were between the age group 20-30 years. There was a highly significant difference response to the statement that patient medication non-adherence to ATT was due to its adverse effects, between participants who had a history of active tuberculosis and undergone treatment for the same, and the participants with no history of TB. There was a significant difference between the study population based on their qualification and profession (P = 0.001 and P = 0.007 respectively) in using the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program guideline for reference. The knowledge attitude and practice towards TB was good in more than 80% of the respondents, yet there is room to improve. Structured periodic training towards TB will further improve the KAP of health care workers.