Study on Tuberculosis Health Behavior Associated Factors Among Papaya Farm Workers in Belize

[[abstract]]Tuberculosis is a Lung infection caused by the Mycobacterium TB, it is considered a highly contagious disease that has been stigmatized and discriminated by those who suffer from it. It is not only a case in one country, but also a universal issue. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between variables by using a framework comprising of the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Reasoned Action model. A quantitative research design was used in this study. A cross-sectional survey was utilized known as the Tuberculosis Interview Instrument to collect data from papaya farm workers in Belize in order to examine the relationship between variables. The participants of this study were recruited from a specific Papaya Farm in the Northern part of the country. A convenient sampling was used and a sample size of 83 workers was recruited as participants. The age of the participants ranged from 21 to 70 years mean age was 43 years (SD = 16.1years), seventy-two workers (86.7 %) were male, more than half of the participants have been employed for more than five years (51.8 %, n = 43). The data was analyzed using SPSS software version 20.0. Descriptive statistics was used to examine the behavioral beliefs about papaya farm workers attitude, intention and subjective norm about TB. Then Pearson’s correlations was used to analyze the inter relationship between behavioral beliefs and attitude, intention, subjective norm. There was a positive relationship between subjective norm and intention (r = .245*, p < 0.05). In conclusion, the descriptive and correlations statistics identified in this study are likely to have important implications for public health policy making and need for more educational programs, about TB behavioral beliefs, attitude, intention and subjective norms among papaya farm workers or any other farms in the country of Belize