C Ogbudebe, B Odume, I Gordon, O Chukwuogo, N Nwokoye, S Useni, E Efo, M Gidado, E Aniwada, A Ihesie, D Nongo, R Eneogu, O Chijioke-Akaniro, C Anyaike
{"title":"Appraising perception, accessibility and uptake of DAT among patients with TB.","authors":"C Ogbudebe, B Odume, I Gordon, O Chukwuogo, N Nwokoye, S Useni, E Efo, M Gidado, E Aniwada, A Ihesie, D Nongo, R Eneogu, O Chijioke-Akaniro, C Anyaike","doi":"10.5588/pha.24.0009","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Poor adherence to TB treatment poses a significant public health threat to TB control programmes. The sustainability of directly observed treatment has been questioned because of its non-patient-centred approach and resource-intensive nature, and Digital Adherence Technologies (DATs) provide a suitable alternative. This study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of DATs among patients with TB.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This descriptive study was conducted in eight states in Nigeria among all patients with drug-susceptible TB.</p><p><strong>Result: </strong>A total of 230 patients (89.1%) own a phone that no one else uses, and 18 (7.0%) use a family phone. A higher proportion of 189 (73.3%) have airtime credit and 119 (46.1%) have internet credit on their phone. In addition, 216 (83.7%) stated that the reminders they received on their phone helped them remember to take their medicine. Only 11 (4.3%) patients missed a dose of the TB medicine. Equally, 11 (4.3%) patients had taken their TB medicine without using DAT. Of these, 7 (63.3%) did not use DATs because they forgot to text medication labels, and 3 (27.6%) did so because of poor network. Only four (1.6%) purchased additional items to support the use of DATs.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>DATs are acceptable in a wide variety of settings, even with reported challenges. Implementation efforts should ensure access, address technical challenges, and minimise additional cost to patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":46239,"journal":{"name":"Public Health Action","volume":"14 2","pages":"66-70"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11216292/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Public Health Action","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5588/pha.24.0009","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"RESPIRATORY SYSTEM","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: Poor adherence to TB treatment poses a significant public health threat to TB control programmes. The sustainability of directly observed treatment has been questioned because of its non-patient-centred approach and resource-intensive nature, and Digital Adherence Technologies (DATs) provide a suitable alternative. This study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of DATs among patients with TB.
Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in eight states in Nigeria among all patients with drug-susceptible TB.
Result: A total of 230 patients (89.1%) own a phone that no one else uses, and 18 (7.0%) use a family phone. A higher proportion of 189 (73.3%) have airtime credit and 119 (46.1%) have internet credit on their phone. In addition, 216 (83.7%) stated that the reminders they received on their phone helped them remember to take their medicine. Only 11 (4.3%) patients missed a dose of the TB medicine. Equally, 11 (4.3%) patients had taken their TB medicine without using DAT. Of these, 7 (63.3%) did not use DATs because they forgot to text medication labels, and 3 (27.6%) did so because of poor network. Only four (1.6%) purchased additional items to support the use of DATs.
Conclusion: DATs are acceptable in a wide variety of settings, even with reported challenges. Implementation efforts should ensure access, address technical challenges, and minimise additional cost to patients.
期刊介绍:
Launched on 1 May 2011, Public Health Action (PHA) is an official publication of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union). It is an open access, online journal available world-wide to physicians, health workers, researchers, professors, students and decision-makers, including public health centres, medical, university and pharmaceutical libraries, hospitals, clinics, foundations and institutions. PHA is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that actively encourages, communicates and reports new knowledge, dialogue and controversy in health systems and services for people in vulnerable and resource-limited communities — all topics that reflect the mission of The Union, Health solutions for the poor.