IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v98y2010i2-3p195-202.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Manifestations of tuberculosis stigma within the healthcare system: The case of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan district in Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Dodor, Emmanuel Atsu
  • Kelly, Shona J.

Abstract

Objectives To explore the manifestations of tuberculosis (TB) stigma within the healthcare system.Method Twenty-one individual interviews (16 females and 5 males) and six focus groups (1 with health managers, 1 with staff providing services for TB patients, and 4 with general staff) were conducted among healthcare workers (HCWs) and the generated data analysed using grounded theory principles and procedures.Results TB stigma manifests in three broad and inter-related ways within the healthcare system: behaviour towards TB patients; attitudes towards TB work; and administrative procedures and policies of healthcare mangers. Healthcare workers expressed fear of infection when interacting with TB patients; a fear which intensifies after the confirmation of the diagnosis. For fear of infection, they shuned, avoided, and advocated the segregation of TB patients at home and in the hospitals. They sometimes maltreated the patients, and accused and blamed them for deliberately infecting others. Posting to TB units/wards is viewed as a punishment, with majority indicating refusal to work there or be trained as TB nurse/doctor. They maintained that those working at TB units should be given incentives. Health managers also situated TB units/wards in isolated parts of the hospital, and do not provide adequate tools, equipment, support and supervision for those offering TB services.Conclusions Fear of infection underlies the stigmatisation of TB by HCWs and worsen by administrative procedures and policies of healthcare managers. To help minimise TB stigma, a national guideline for the prevention of TB in HCWs should be developed as this may help protect them and alleviate their fear of infection. Rewarding and motivating HCWs involved in TB control may also improve their attitudes towards TB and those suffering from the disease. Furthermore, interventions to reduce TB stigma should be put in place, and the effects these may have on TB treatment outcomes investigated.

Suggested Citation

  • Dodor, Emmanuel Atsu & Kelly, Shona J., 2010. "Manifestations of tuberculosis stigma within the healthcare system: The case of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan district in Ghana," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(2-3), pages 195-202, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:98:y:2010:i:2-3:p:195-202
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168-8510(10)00176-4
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liefooghe, R. & Michiels, N. & Habib, S. & Moran, M. B. & De Muynck, A., 1995. "Perception and social consequences of tuberculosis: A focus group study of tuberculosis patients in Sialkot, Pakistan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 41(12), pages 1685-1692, December.
    2. Franco, Lynne Miller & Bennett, Sara & Kanfer, Ruth & Stubblebine, Patrick, 2004. "Determinants and consequences of health worker motivation in hospitals in Jordan and Georgia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 343-355, January.
    3. Alexandra Beith & Rena Eichler & Diana Weil, 2007. "Performance-Based Incentives for Health: A Way to Improve Tuberculosis Detection and Treatment Completion?," Working Papers 122, Center for Global Development.
    4. Volinn, Ilse J., 1983. "Health professionals as stigmatizers and destigmatizers of diseases: Alcoholism and leprosy as examples," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 17(7), pages 385-393, January.
    5. Macq, Jean & Solis, Alejandro & Martinez, Guillermo & Martiny, Patrick & Dujardin, Bruno, 2005. "An exploration of the social stigma of tuberculosis in five "municipios" of Nicaragua to reflect on local interventions," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 205-217, October.
    6. Gibson, N. & Cave, A. & Doering, D. & Ortiz, L. & Harms, P., 2005. "Socio-cultural factors influencing prevention and treatment of tuberculosis in immigrant and Aboriginal communities in Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(5), pages 931-942, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Amo-Adjei, Joshua & Kumi-Kyereme, Akwasi & Fosuah Amo, Hannah & Awusabo-Asare, Kofi, 2014. "The politics of tuberculosis and HIV service integration in Ghana," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 42-49.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Craig, Sienna R. & Adams, Lisa V. & Spielberg, Stephen P. & Campbell, Benjamin, 2009. "Pediatric therapeutics and medicine administration in resource-poor settings: A review of barriers and an agenda for interdisciplinary approaches to improving outcomes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 1681-1690, December.
    2. Ida Viktoria Kolte & Lucia Pereira & Aparecida Benites & Islândia Maria Carvalho de Sousa & Paulo Cesar Basta, 2020. "The contribution of stigma to the transmission and treatment of tuberculosis in a hyperendemic indigenous population in Brazil," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Johansson, E. & Long, N. H. & Diwan, V. K. & Winkvist, A., 2000. "Gender and tuberculosis control: Perspectives on health seeking behaviour among men and women in Vietnam," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 33-51, May.
    4. Diedong Gladys & Abdulai Adams & Eliasu Alhassan, 2019. "Attitude and Perception of Academic and Administrative Staff towards Progression in Higher Institutions of Learning in Ghana," Asian Journal of Contemporary Education, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 3(1), pages 15-27, March.
    5. Syed Mustafa Ali & Naveed Anjum & Muhammad Ishaq & Farah Naureen & Arif Noor & Aamna Rashid & Syed Muslim Abbas & Kerri Viney, 2019. "Community Knowledge about Tuberculosis and Perception about Tuberculosis-Associated Stigma in Pakistan," Societies, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, January.
    6. Thomas Porter & Jane Chuma & Catherine Molyneux, 2009. "Barriers to managing chronic illness among urban households in coastal Kenya," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(2), pages 271-290.
    7. Qi Zhao & Lixia Wang & Tao Tao & Biao Xu, 2013. "Impacts of the “transport subsidy initiative on poor TB patients” in Rural China: A Patient-Cohort Based Longitudinal Study in Rural China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(11), pages 1-1, November.
    8. Smith-Morris, Carolyn, 2017. "Epidemiological placism in public health emergencies: Ebola in two Dallas neighborhoods," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 106-114.
    9. Samanta Madeira de Oliveira & Stephan Altmayer & Matheus Zanon & Luzielio Alves Sidney-Filho & Ana Luiza Schneider Moreira & Paulo de Tarso Dalcin & Anderson Garcez & Bruno Hochhegger & José da Silva , 2018. "Predictors of noncompliance to pulmonary tuberculosis treatment: An insight from South America," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-10, September.
    10. Zubia Mumtaz & Adrienne V Levay & Afshan Bhatti, 2015. "Successful Community Midwives in Pakistan: An Asset-Based Approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-12, September.
    11. Ahmad Azam Malik & Shelby Suzanne Yamamoto & Aminul Haque & Nadeem Shafique Butt & Mukhtiar Baig & Rainer Sauerborn, 2018. "Developing and assessing a tool to measure motivation among physicians in Lahore, Pakistan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-17, December.
    12. Junnan Jiang & Henry Lucas & Qian Long & Yanjiao Xin & Li Xiang & Shenglan Tang, 2019. "The Effect of an Innovative Financing and Payment Model for Tuberculosis Patients on Health Service Utilization in China: Evidence from Hubei Province of China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-15, July.
    13. Natasha Chida & Zara Ansari & Hamidah Hussain & Maria Jaswal & Stephen Symes & Aamir J Khan & Shama Mohammed, 2015. "Determinants of Default from Tuberculosis Treatment among Patients with Drug-Susceptible Tuberculosis in Karachi, Pakistan: A Mixed Methods Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(11), pages 1-14, November.
    14. Sergey Shishkin & Aleksandr Temnitsky, 2017. "From Salary to the Performance-Based Remuneration of Russian Physicians: How Motivation at Work is Changing," HSE Working papers WP BRP 08/PSP/2017, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    15. Alfred Anthony Bueno & Angel May M. Buhisan & Kayle Erika Shayne P. Nayal & ason O. Manaois, 2024. "A Qualitative Study into the Experiences and Motivation of Filipino Healthcare Professionals in Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Pandemic," International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI), vol. 10(12), pages 552-575, January.
    16. Razee, Husna & Whittaker, Maxine & Jayasuriya, Rohan & Yap, Lorraine & Brentnall, Lee, 2012. "Listening to the rural health workers in Papua New Guinea – The social factors that influence their motivation to work," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(5), pages 828-835.
    17. Shapovalova Inna S. & Polukhin Oleg N. & Gerashchenko Vladimir M. & Kisilenko Anastasiy V. & Gozhenko Galina I., 2018. "Social and Cultural Threats to and Risks of Russia," The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 4, pages 100-105, 11-2018.
    18. Long, Nguyen Hoang & Johansson, Eva & Diwan, Vinod K. & Winkvist, Anna, 2001. "Fear and social isolation as consequences of tuberculosis in VietNam: a gender analysis," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 69-81, October.
    19. Sebsibe Tadesse, 2016. "Stigma against Tuberculosis Patients in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(4), pages 1-11, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:98:y:2010:i:2-3:p:195-202. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.