Knowledge, Attitude, Barriers and Preventive Behaviors of Tuberculosis among Myanmar Migrants at Hua Fai Village, Mae Sot District, Tak Province, Thailand

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify the independent variables (socio-demographic characteristics, information about tuberculosis (TB), knowledge, attitude and barriers towards prevention of TB), and to assess any association of these independent variables with the dependent variables (preventive behaviors of TB). Data were collected by face-to-face interviews with total 392 participants from middle of March to first week of April 2014 at Hua Fai village, Mae Sot district, Tak province, Thailand. The 65% of respondents had low level of knowledge, 55.9% were at negative attitude level, 41.3% had high level of barriers and 51.8% had low preventive behavior levels. Pearson`s Chi-square test was used for bivariate analysis to find out the associations between categorical independent and dependent variables. Bivariate analysis revealed that preventive behaviors of TB were associated with (i)socio-demographic characteristics (marital status, level of education, current occupation, international wealth index (IWI) category, people living in the same room, duration of stay in Thailand), (ii) information about TB (sources of TB information; family, friends, neighbors and colleagues,  and  newspapers and magazines, contents of TB information; causes, prevention and mode of transmission , TB healthcare service providers in Mae Sot),  and (iii) level of barriers. As there were low levels of knowledge, low levels of attitude and high levels of barriers towards prevention of TB were found among the participants, community-based health promotion and education programs on TB should be strategically planned and implemented. Furthermore, screening camping for TB should be done with to carry out early case detection and treatments for TB.