A Randomized Controlled Intervention Trial: Effect of Counselling on Treatment Adherence and Self-Esteem of Women Patients Receiving Tuberculosis Treatment

Tuberculosis (TB) is considered as a global public health issue but it can be understood as an individual health issue as well. Due to this disease, TB patients not only suffer physically but also psychologically and socially and face severe adverse consequences. Fear of dissemination the illness, helplessness and social stigma related to this ailment, are all plausible causes that lowered self-esteem of the patients and reinforce non-adherence. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of counselling on treatment adherence and increasing self-esteem of TB patients.

This randomized control trial was conducted in Sindh Government Hospital Karachi. A total of 100 newly diagnosed women TB patients were randomly allocated to intervention (n=50) and control (n=50) groups. The data was collected through demographic form and RSES (Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale). Intervention group received counselling with social support during the treatment while the control group received education at the time of registration. Self-esteem was measured and compared before and after the intervention for two groups. Data was analysed through SPSS by using the χ², and t-test.

Results revealed that compared with control group, treatment success rate was 100% among intervention group. The mean self-esteem scores before and after intervention in the intervention group increased from 10.42 to 17.44 showing a significant statistical difference at p <0.05 and p-value is <0.0001.

The result of the present study suggests that patients with higher self-esteem tend to adhere better to TB treatment, in comparison to patients with low self-esteem. Therefore, counselling should be the important component of TB treatment to increase patients’ self-esteem which eventually fosters successful treatment outcomes.