Knowledge and Healthcare Seeking Behavior of Tuberculosis Patients attending Gimbi General Hospital, West Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) now ranks alongside HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) as a leading cause of death worldwide. Globally, 9.6 million people were estimated to have fallen ill with TB in 2014. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge and healthcare seeking behaviour of tuberculosis patents in Gimbi General Hospital, West Ethiopia.METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted among tuberculosis patients from March 8 to April 30, 2015. The data collection method was face-to-face interview through structuredstandard questionnaire. To identify the factors associated with knowledge about TB and healthcare seeking behavior, backward logistic regression analysis was used.RESULTS: Of the 138 TB patients, 85(61.6%) had good knowledge about TB while 53(38.4%) had poor knowledge about TB. On multivariable logistic analysis, poor knowledge about TB was more likely to occur among TB patients in intensive treatment phase (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=4.1, 95% CI= 1.7-9.6, p=0.001).CONCLUSION: TB patients had good knowledge on signs and symptoms of TB, transmission of TB and healthcare seeking behaviour of TB, but their knowledge on the cause of TB, treatment of TB and prevention of TB were not adequate. This study also revealed that the health careseeking behaviour of TB patients were good.