Psychosocial Needs Analysis of Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Pulmonary tuberculosis is a chronic lung disease which has a physical as well as psychosocial impact on the patients.Until recently, existing government programs still focus on the treatment and contamination prevention of the disease.The current existing program is not directed towards solving the patients’ psychosocial problems, although the impact thereof is very influential towards the discipline in undergoing treatment and the prognosis of Tuberculosis (TB) as a disease in patients. This research aims to analyze factors that are most influential in fulfilling the psychosocial needs of TB patients in the city of Cirebon. This research uses a corelational descriptive method. 171 pulmonary TB patients involved in this research were chosen through consecutive sampling from 10 public health centers in the City and Region of Cirebon. The psychosocial needs of pulmonary TB patients are measured by instruments developed by the researchers. Prior to using the instrument, a validity and reliability test has been conducted. The result indicates that there are three dominant factors that are closely related to the patients’ satisfaction in meeting their psychosocial needs.These factors are the psychological condition during the last week, duration of treatment and supporting services, whereas demographic factors are not related to their satisfaction in meeting their psychosocial needs. The result of this research can be considered by the government to provide supporting services at Public Health Centers in order to fulfill the psychosocial needs of pulmonary TBC patients and avoid drop out cases.