An exploration of TB-related knowledge, attitudes, and stigma among senior high school students in Bangkok, Thailand
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/dcj.2023.26Keywords:
tuberculosis, TB knowledge, TB attitudes, TB stigma, high school studentsAbstract
Since the purpose of the study was to explore TB-related knowledge, attitudes, and stigma among senior high school students in Bangkok, a cross-sectional design was implemented. All 630 participants were senior high school students aged 15-19 years old, who were studying in grades 10-12 in Bangkok-based schools under the Office of Basic Education Commission (OBEC). Data were collected using questionnaires consisting of the following four parts including 1) factors related to demographic characteristics, 2) knowledge about pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), 3) attitudes toward pulmonary tuberculosis, and 4) TB stigma. Findings from this study indicated that most of participants (54.3%) had an average score of TB knowledge considered as at a poor level (mean±SD=12.17±2.31), especially knowledge about TB transmission, symptoms of suspected TB, TB treatment, and TB prevention. Regarding attitudes toward TB, most of the participants (74.5%) had an average score at a moderate level (mean±SD=37.06±8.01). However, the participants still needed to improve their attitudes about food consumption and living with TB patients. In the meantime, TB stigma was reported at a high level in 57.1% (mean±SD=11.07±4.50) of the sample population. High school students need to improve their perception of TB stigma, for instance, people who have TB are believed to be dirty and disgusting, making people who have TB embarrassed, people not wanting to stay close to those with TB, people not wanting to play with friend who was sick with TB, and people keeping a social distance from TB patients. The study suggests that effective strategies or interventions should be adopted and implemented with adequate advocacy and social mobilization in schools to fill the gaps related to TB knowledge, transmission, symptoms, prevention and TB treatment, as well as providing the positive attitudes toward the disease to reduce TB stigma and discrimination found among high school students.
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