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Yi Y, Sun M, Chen X, Pan Y, Lu J, Yu Y, Dou X, Zhou L. Prejudice and determinants regarding tuberculosis patients among medical students in Dalian, Northeast China: a cross-sectional study. Front Public Health 2024; 11:1292333. [PMID: 38269378 PMCID: PMC10806168 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1292333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Health workers play a central role in global tuberculosis (TB) elimination efforts. If medical students have prejudiced attitudes toward TB patients, this may make it difficult for them to provide effective health care to TB patients in their future roles as health workers. There is currently no research on prejudice toward TB patients among medical students in China. This study aimed to explore the current status of medical students' prejudice against patients with TB and its associated predictors. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey among medical students at a medical university in Dalian, Liaoning Province, Northeast China. Multiple logistic regression analysis was employed to determine the predictive factors of medical students' prejudice against patients with TB. Results More than half (57.23%) of the medical students held prejudices against individuals with TB. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that not receiving TB health education (OR: 2.12, 95% CI: 1.35-3.32), not knowing a person with TB (OR: 2.52, 95% CI: 1.39-4.56), and fear of TB/TB patients (OR: 6.79, 95% CI: 4.36-10.56) were identified as risk factors for medical students' prejudice against TB patients. Conversely, residing in rural areas (OR: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.38-0.95), agreeableness (OR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.73-0.92) and emotional stability (OR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.81-1.00) in the Big Five personality traits, and a better understanding of TB knowledge (OR: 0.58, 95% CI: 0.38-0.89) were identified as protective factors. Conclusion In China, a considerable number of medical students still exhibit prejudice against patients with TB. Targeted interventions, such as incorporating TB health education into the core curriculum of medical students, and enhance their agreeableness and emotional stability, are still needed. Furthermore, greater focus should be placed on medical students from urban backgrounds or those who harbor fear or do not know a person with TB.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Ling Zhou
- School of Public Health, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, China
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Rickman HM, Kamchedzera W, Schwalb A, Phiri MD, Ruhwald M, Shanaube K, Dodd PJ, Houben RMGJ, Corbett EL, MacPherson P. Know your tuberculosis epidemic-Is it time to add Mycobacterium tuberculosis immunoreactivity back into global surveillance? PLOS GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 2:e0001208. [PMID: 36962621 PMCID: PMC10021854 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0001208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) still causes 1.5 million deaths globally each year. Over recent decades, slow and uneven declines in TB incidence have resulted in a falling prevalence of TB disease, which increasingly concentrates in vulnerable populations. Falling prevalence, while welcome, poses new challenges for TB surveillance. Cross-sectional disease surveys require very large sample sizes to accurately estimate disease burden, and even more participants to detect trends over time or identify high-risk areas or populations, making them prohibitively resource-intensive. In the past, tuberculin skin surveys measuring Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) immunoreactivity were widely used to monitor TB epidemiology in high-incidence settings, but were limited by challenges with both delivering and interpreting the test. Here we argue that the shifting epidemiology of tuberculosis, and the development of new tests for Mtb infection, make it timely and important to revisit the strategy of TB surveillance based on infection or immunoreactivity. Mtb infection surveys carry their own operational challenges and fundamental questions, for example: around survey design and frequency; which groups should be included; how the prevalence of immunoreactivity in a population should be used to estimate force of infection; how individual results should be interpreted and managed; and how surveillance can be delivered efficiently and ethically. However, if these knowledge gaps are addressed, the relative feasibility and lower costs of Mtb infection surveillance offer a powerful and affordable opportunity to better "know your TB epidemic", understand trends, identify high-risk and underserved communities, and tailor public health responses to dynamic epidemiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah M Rickman
- Clinical Research Department, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
- Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Blantyre, Malawi
| | | | - Alvaro Schwalb
- TB Modelling Group, TB Centre, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
- Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
| | - Mphatso D Phiri
- Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Blantyre, Malawi
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Morten Ruhwald
- FIND, the Global Alliance for Diagnostics, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - Peter J Dodd
- School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Rein M G J Houben
- TB Modelling Group, TB Centre, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth L Corbett
- Clinical Research Department, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
- Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Blantyre, Malawi
| | - Peter MacPherson
- Clinical Research Department, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
- Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Blantyre, Malawi
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom
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Degeling C, Carter SM, Dale K, Singh K, Watts K, Hall J, Denholm J. Perspectives of Vietnamese, Sudanese and South Sudanese immigrants on targeting migrant communities for latent tuberculosis screening and treatment in low-incidence settings: A report on two Victorian community panels. Health Expect 2020; 23:1431-1440. [PMID: 32918523 PMCID: PMC7752196 DOI: 10.1111/hex.13121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2020] [Revised: 07/15/2020] [Accepted: 07/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB) elimination strategies in Australia require a focus on groups who are at highest risk of TB infection, such as immigrants from high-burden settings. Understanding attitudes to different strategies for latent TB infection (LTBI) screening and treatment is an important element of justifiable elimination strategies. METHOD Two community panels were conducted in Melbourne with members of the Vietnamese (n = 11), Sudanese and South Sudanese communities (n = 9). Panellists were provided with expert information about LTBI and different screening and health communication strategies, then deliberated on how best to pursue TB elimination in Australia. FINDINGS Both panels unanimously preferred LTBI screening to occur pre-migration rather than in Australia. Participants were concerned that post-migration screening would reach fewer migrants, noted that conducting LTBI screening in Australia could stigmatize participants and that poor awareness of LTBI would hamper participation. If targeted screening was to occur in Australia, the Vietnamese panel preferred 'place-based' communication strategies, whereas the Sudanese and South Sudanese panel emphasized that community leaders should lead communication strategies to minimize stigma. Both groups emphasized the importance of maintaining community trust in Australian health service providers, and the need to ensure targeting did not undermine this trust. CONCLUSION Pre-migration screening was preferred. If post-migration screening is necessary, the potential for stigma should be reduced, benefit and risk profile clearly explained and culturally appropriate communication strategies employed. Cultural attitudes to health providers, personal health management and broader social vulnerabilities of targeted groups need to be considered in the design of screening programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chris Degeling
- Australian Centre for Health Engagement Evidence and ValuesSchool of Health & SocietyUniversity of WollongongWollongongNSWAustralia
| | - Stacy M. Carter
- Australian Centre for Health Engagement Evidence and ValuesSchool of Health & SocietyUniversity of WollongongWollongongNSWAustralia
| | - Katie Dale
- Victorian Tuberculosis ProgramMelbourne Health at The Doherty Institute for Infection & ImmunityMelbourneVICAustralia
- Department of Microbiology and ImmunologyUniversity of MelbourneMelbourneVICAustralia
| | - Kasha Singh
- Victorian Infectious Diseases ServiceMelbourne Health at The Doherty Institute for Infection & ImmunityMelbourneVICAustralia
| | - Krista Watts
- Victorian Tuberculosis ProgramMelbourne Health at The Doherty Institute for Infection & ImmunityMelbourneVICAustralia
| | - Julie Hall
- Australian Centre for Health Engagement Evidence and ValuesSchool of Health & SocietyUniversity of WollongongWollongongNSWAustralia
| | - Justin Denholm
- Victorian Tuberculosis ProgramMelbourne Health at The Doherty Institute for Infection & ImmunityMelbourneVICAustralia
- Department of Microbiology and ImmunologyUniversity of MelbourneMelbourneVICAustralia
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