Development of pulmonary tuberculosis control model with the participation of village health volunteers

Abstract

Background: The drug-resistant tuberculosis cases has increased in Prachinburi province in recent years. The treatment and prevention of the transmission to other people was critical to the TB control and prevention program. The control of transmission of new patients was critical to the TB control and prevention program. This study aims to determine the problems, develop a model and evaluate outcomes of tuberculosis (TB) control and prevention model for new pulmonary patients (PTB) and household contacts in Prachinburi province.
Methods: The research was divided into 3 phases: 1) Study the situation of TB control, multidisciplinary team 2) The development of TB control and prevention model, and 3) Evaluated of control model. The samples used 155 participants in 3 districts of Prachinburi Province, were selected exclusively and voluntarily, which include a multidisciplinary team consisting of nurses, family practice groups, public health officers from the sub–district health promotion hospital, new pulmonary patients (PTB), and household contacts. Statistics analysis used frequency, percentage, standard deviation, paired t–test, and content analysis.
Results: The analysis determines the developmental form of PPAC Model disease control: Participation situational analyzing, Planning, Action and reflection, Control monitoring and evaluation. Develop participatory tuberculosis control models of the Village Health Volunteers (VHVs) in Thailand. Training and assigning caregivers, caregivers’ agreements, visited patients every day for the first 4 weeks of the intensive period until the treatment was completed with the staff. After implementation, the samples, VHVs had a statistically significant increase in knowledge score of diseases and care for tuberculosis patients, before X ̅ = 0.84 (S.D. = 0.16) and after X ̅ = 0.99 (S.D. = 0.20), TB control compared to before training (p < 0.05), and a statistically significant increase in perception score of diseases compared to before training, before X ̅ = 2.58 (S.D. = 0.24) and after X ̅ = 2.70 (S.D. = 0.26), patient’s satisfaction towards the care of the VHVs, in satisfaction score 4.91 (S.D. = 0.17)
Conclusions: The development of this TB control model is to establish a joint agreement between the VHVs and the multidisciplinary team by developing knowledge and skills in patient care to benefit the patient treatment process. Therefore, this TB control approach should be supported and further expanded in other areas.