Background: A high level of awareness of tuberculosis (TB) is very important for its prevention and control in the community.
Objective: To study the knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding TB and the effect of sociodemographic characteristics.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted of all patients with new smear-positive pulmonary TB diagnosed between January 2012 and June 2013 at RNTCP clinic. The information was collected with reference to knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding TB (its signs and symptoms, mode of spread, cause, investigations, treatment, and prevention). Bivariate and logistics regression were applied to study the effect of sociodemographic characteristics on knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding TB.
Result: A total of 122 patients with a mean age of 29.9 years were included in the study. Persistence cough (48.4%) was the most common symptom known, 87% were aware that TB could spread to others with 56.6% being aware of airborne transmission. Misconceptions such as casual contact as a route of spread were observed. Females and those without secondary education were less aware of various aspects of TB. Of all, 32% stated government health facility as a place of choice for treatment of TB. A low knowledge score was significantly associated with young age group (P = 0.037), less education (P < 0.001), and low income (P = 0.027). A low attitude and practice score was significantly associated with less education (P = 0.002), low income (P = 0.008), and nuclear family (P = 0.008).
Conclusion: The study participants had good knowledge of TB but there were several misconceptions regarding the cause of TB that need to be clarified. Community-based programs on TB awareness need to be increased among young people and less educated groups.
Key words: Knowledge, tuberculosis, health-seeking behavior, urban community
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