Emotional Disturbances among Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Abstract

Background: India is unfortunately the tuberculosis capital of the world. Although efforts have been made to eliminate tuberculosis, it still persists giving enormous psychosocial stress to the individuals and their family. Early identification of the emotional distress and the vulnerable individuals will improve the drug compliance and outcome.
Aim: To know the emotional disturbances in pulmonary tuberculosis patients and the factors related to the distress and the appropriate tool to screen such patients.
Materials and Method: In this study of emotional disturbances in pulmonary tuberculosis, fifty pulmonary tuberculosis patients were taken randomly on the basis of their willingness to participate in the study and screened with three tools after the initial pilot study. Raw scores were used to analyze the data and statistical significance was investigated using ‘t’ tests, ANOVA and correlation methods.
Results: There is increased psychological morbidity in the pulmonary tuberculosis individuals affecting their vocational, personal and social life requiring early intervention.
Conclusion: Personal stress and distress, social stigma and resultant psychiatric morbidity needs early recognition and management in pulmonary tuberculosis.