37 research outputs found
Concerns about the knowledge and attitude of multidrugâresistant tuberculosis among health care workers and patients in Delta State, Nigeria
Background: Inadequate knowledge and wrong perception of multidrugâresistant tuberculosis (MDRâTB) by Health Care Workers (HCWs) and patients are detrimental to tuberculosis control programs.Objective: The aim was to assess the knowledge and attitudes of HCWs and TB patients about MDRâTB in Delta State, Nigeria.Materials and Methods: A crossâsectional study was carried out among HCWs and TB patients in Delta State, Nigeria. Data were collected using a structured interviewerâadministered questionnaire and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 20.Results: Ninetyâsix HCWs and 114 TB patients were studied. The HCWs (mean age 43.0 ± 10.1 years) were older than the patients (mean age 41.7 ± 16.9 years). A higher proportion (54.2%) of HCWs had tertiary education, but only 15% of the patients had above secondary education. Eight (8.3%) HCWs and majority (60.5%) of the patients had no knowledge about of MDRâTB. Only 18.4% of patients compared to 61.5% of HCWs had good knowledge of MDRâTB. Both groups demonstrated a positive attitude toward MDRâTB.Conclusion: The knowledge of MDRâTB was poor among the TB patients studied as well as among HCWs with low educational status. MDRâTB training program for both HCWs and patients need to be reâstructured to allow for greater gain in MDRâTB knowledge among both groups, which in turn may help improve compliance and treatment outcomes among patients.Key words: Health care workers, multidrug resistant tuberculosis, Nigeria, tuberculosis patient