Awareness regarding pulmonary tuberculosis among workers working in Om Shree Machhindra Nath brick factory .

Thesis Report.

SUMMARY: Tuberculosis has become a grave concern in all part of the world because of recent resurgence of Tuberculosis. It remains as the most significant cause of morbidity and mortality due to single infectious agent in the world. Millions of workers in both developed and developing countries are at high risk from having Pulmonary Tuberculosis in their workplace. Only medical measures are not enough, the awareness about Pulmonary Tuberculosis is much more essential to stop TB. Being healthy and free from Tuberculosis is in the interest of workers, employers and government as well as public. The main objective of the study was to identify the "Awareness regarding Pulmonary Tuberculosis among the workers working in Om Shree Machhindra Nath Brick Factory". A descriptive cross sectional study was designed in which 125 workers were selected among total 1200 brick workers through simple random sampling procedure by using random table method. Semi structured interview guideline and observation checklist was developed and data was collected through interview and observation. The data elicited information about socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, environmental information and awareness (knowledge) of respondents on Pulmonary Tuberculosis. All the data were edited then processed and analyzed by using SPSS and presented in the tabulation form. The results of this study showed that more than half of the respondents (56.8%) were male and majority of the respondents' age ranged from 15-24 years with a mean of 29.69 years. The minimum age was 15 years and maximum age was 60 years old. Most of the respondents were Hindu and from Magar/Gurung/Rai/Limbu ethnic group. Large number of workers had temporary residence as they had been from different parts of the country and also from other country. Nearly three quarters of the respondents (73.6%) had got married and about 36 percent respondents had more than two children. Fifty two percent respondents were living in joint family. As the brick workers are the seasonal workers majority of them (57.6%) worked for 0-6 months within a year and their income range was over Rs.5000 per month. Most of the respondents (56%) were illiterate and only 44 percent respondents were literate. Among literate respondents, very few (4%) had passed higher secondary class. The environmental information revealed that many workers had arranged their living in the factory in which three to four people lived together in a room and cooked food in the same living room due to lack of proper place. Through the observation of the working place, majority of the place was bad and there was crowded of workers in the working place which create an ideal condition for the spread of TB infection. Among the respondents, only 69.6 percent respondents had heard about PTB. More than half of the respondents (56.8%) knew that PTB is a communicable disease. Majority of the respondents had satisfactory knowledge about common signs and symptoms of PTB but the knowledge about cause and route of transmission was poor. Few numbers of workers knew about its preventive measures and referred to treat the patients as early as possible. Most of the respondents preferred Health Post for the treatment and said correct duration of taking medicine i.e.6 months. Majority of the respondents had fair knowledge (43.2%) and very poor knowledge (30.4%) but only 18.4 percent respondents had good knowledge about PTB. Age and educational status showed statistical significant association with awareness level of the respondents (P=0.04 and 0.02). But sex, ethnicity and religion showed no statistical significant association with awareness level of the respondents (P=0.06, 0.85 and 0.47). The results of the study revealed that majority of the respondents had fair knowledge about PTB followed by very poor knowledge, good knowledge and poor knowledge. Although the brick workers are at high risk of Tuberculosis infection most of them were unaware about the disease. Therefore, it is very necessary that all the workers should have awareness about Tuberculosis so that they could be aware of their health and prevent form the spread of Tuberculosis in their working area. The brick factory's owners concern on the health of the workers is vital. The result of this study can be used for setting a health education program to promote awareness level of industry workers.