Development of a Community Care Model for Tuberculosis in Nakhon Ratchasima Province through The Participation of Health Network Partners and Service Recipients

Abstract

This action research aimed to develop a community-based tuberculosis (TB) care model in Nakhon Ratchasima Province through the participation of health network partners and to evaluate the outcomes of the developed care model. The study was conducted in three phases: 1) situation analysis, 2) model development, and 3) model evaluation using a quasi-experimental one-group, pretest–posttest design. The sample consisted of 30 caregivers of TB patients, 10 healthcare personnel, and 10 village health volunteers, selected through purposive sampling. The research instruments included the developed community-based TB care model and data collection tools consisting of a TB knowledge test, a caregiver behavior questionnaire, and a satisfaction questionnaire, with reliability coefficients of 0.89, 0.94, and 0.87, respectively. The intervention period lasted two weeks. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations, and differences between pretest and posttest scores were examined using paired t-tests.

The findings indicated that TB patient care in the community faced several challenges, including discontinuity of care, inconsistent medication monitoring, and limited information sharing between healthcare facilities and community services. The developed care model incorporated video-based education together with an educational handbook and a two-way monitoring and communication system through “TB Care Korat” on a LINE Official Account (LINE OA). After the intervention, caregivers’ knowledge scores and caregiving behavior scores increased with a statistically significant difference (p < .05). Participants also reported a high level of satisfaction with the care model. In conclusion, the community-based TB care model developed through the participation of health network partners effectively improved caregivers’ knowledge and caregiving behaviors and strengthened the continuity of TB care in the community. The model can be applied as a prototype for developing TB care systems in other community settings with similar contexts.