Dr Vijayashree Y, faculty and PhD scholar at Institute of Public Health, article titled ”Coping with tuberculosis and directly observed treatment: a qualitative study among patients from South India“, published in “BioMed Central” (BMC). This study carried out to explore the experience and consequences of having Tuberculosis on patients enrolled inDOTS and their caretakers in India.
Background
In India, the Revised National TB control programme (RNTCP) offers free diagnosis and treatment for tuberculosis (TB), based on the Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS) strategy. We conducted a qualitative study to explore the experience and consequences of having TB on patients enrolled in DOTS and their caretakers in Tumkur district, located in a southern state of India, Karnataka.
Methods
We conducted 33 in-depth interviews on a purposive sample of TB patients from three groups: (1) patients who reached RNTCP directly on their own and took DOTS at RNTCP; (2) patients who were referred by private practitioners (PPs) to RNTCP and took DOTS at RNTCP; and (3) patients diagnosed by RNTCP and took DOTS from PPs. Data was analyzed using a thematic approach with the support of NVivo9.
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