Role of Education on Perceptions, Social Consequences and Compliance among Tuberculous Patients: A Study Conducted in Teaching Hospitals, Lahore

To see the affect of education on perceptions, social consequences of tuberculosis and compliance on treatment among patients. Study Design: A descriptive cross sectional study. Setting and Duration: This study was conducted in five teaching hospitals, in public sector in Lahore, namely Mayo hospital, Sir Ganga Ram hospital, Services hospital, General hospital, Jinnah hospital, from July 2008 to May 2009. Methodology: Four hundred T.B patients aged 15 years and above registered under TB DOTS in OPD were selected by convenience sampling technique for interview. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Closed – ended questions with multiple choices were used; with a last choice allowing the participants to give his/her own opinion as required, if it was different from the choices listed for the question. Results: Educated patients had better knowledge about the etiology (75.5%), transmission of disease (59.4%), period of communicability (71.4%), curability of disease (67.3%), DOTS and the standard long course treatment regimen for TB (58.2%), consequences of incomplete treatment (57.9%). Moreover educated patients had better compliance (60.2%) on treatment Conclusion: Education has deep impact on the perceptions, social pattern and compliance of the patients on treatment.