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PERCEPTION OF TUBERCULOSIS AMONG PARENTS AND GUARDIANS OF SCHOOL CHLDRENIN AN URBANPOOR ELEMENTARYSCHOOL, ACADEMIC YEAR 2000-2001

Del Mundo F¹, Santiago B¹, Porras E¹, Joves P²

¹ Fe del Mundo Medical Center, Quezon City, Philippines

² FEU-NRMF Institute of Medicine, Quezon City, Philippines

Objective: To determine what the parents and guardian's knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices are related to tuberculosis.

Methods: A total of 1,374 parents and guardians of school children enrolled in Balara Elementary School. Academic Year 2000-2001 was interviewed by residents and medical students from the FEU-NRMF. Institute of Medicine from February 5 to March 9, 2001. The instrument used was a modified interview schedule formulated by Drs. Tiglao and Timpongko, professors from the UP-College of Public Health.

Results: I. Socio-demographic profile: Majority of the respondents were more than 30 years old, Catholics, female, and married. Almost half of the respondents reached high school and were unemployed. The monthly family income of most of the respondents ranged from P4, 000.00 to P7, 999.00. II. Perceptions about tuberculosis: Only a small percentage considered TB as main health problem in the community. Half of the respondents believed that they are not susceptible to the disease. Forty-five percent recognized that TB is caused by micro-organisms. There were still those who believed that TB is inherited, dictated by fate or were due to vices. Less than 50% of the respondents were aware of most of the signs and symptoms of TB. Only a small percentage admitted to have symptoms of TB. Majority was not ashamed if diagnosed to have TB. Eighty-three percent preferred to discuss TB with their doctors. There were more respondents who complied with chest x-ray compared with the sputum examination. Ninety-eight percent of those treated claimed to have taken the drug but only 42.95% complied from 6 months to one year. Only 60% of the respondents heard about the TB control program through television (40.12%) and from the health center (24.34%). Doctors, nurses and schools were not major sources of TB information. For those who have utilized the services of the TB control program, 29.56% were not satisfied due to poor services and lack of medicines. Majority of the respondents (91.48%) expressed their willingness to cooperate if a TB control program is initiated in the school.

Conclusion: Given the findings in this survey, the important messages that should be included in the design of an educational TB intervention program should focus on the cause, mode of transmission, diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The health center personnel should serve as a more potent source of information and education. Other sectors like the schools should be involved where the teachers, parents, guardians and pupils can be targeted.