Exploring challenges faced by parents of children with tuberculosis to achieve treatment success

Abstract

Introduction: Parents play an essential role in the success of their children’s tuberculosis (TB) treatment. They faced many challenges from the initial children’s health status changes until completing the TB treatment. The challenges were also described as perceived barriers, according to the Health Belief Model (HBM). This study aims to explore parents’ experiences on the challenges in achieving a successful TB treatment for their child in two districts of Selangor, Malaysia. Methods: The research was carried out using the phenomenology study design. In-depth interviews were conducted among purposely sample primary caregivers of children with TB disease who have completed TB treatment or still under treatment. MyTB version 2.1 data were sought from TB Unit, Selangor Health State Department for Klang and Petaling districts. The participants were selected based on the registration year of 2017 to 2019. The collected data was considered as achieving its saturation level if no new themes arise from the latest interviews session. The R-based Qualitative Data Analysis (RQDA) package version 0.2-8 was used for thematic data analysis. Results: The total number of participants in this study was fifteen mothers of children with TB disease. There were six main themes identified from this study, which were health symptoms challenges, TB investigation challenges, personal challenges, healthcare facilities challenges, administration medication challenges, and community challenges. Conclusions: Understanding the challenges faced by parents of children with TB disease is vital for improving the TB services and providing the required psychosocial support to the children’s family.