Tuberculosis Knowledge and Stigma towards Students with Tuberculosis among Schoolteachers in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Indrawati, I.; Lusmilasari, L.; Haryanti, F.

doi:10.58209/hehp.14.3.473

Tuberculosis Knowledge and Stigma towards Students with Tuberculosis among Schoolteachers in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Document Type : Descriptive & Survey

Authors

I. Indrawati ¹

L. Lusmilasari ²

F. Haryanti ²

¹ Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Muhammadiyah Gorontalo University, Gorontalo, Indonesia

² Department of Pediatric and Maternity Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

10.58209/hehp.14.3.473

Abstract

Aims: This study examined whether schoolteachers’ stigma toward students with tuberculosis (TB) in Indonesia, the country with the world’s second-largest TB burden, is associated with their overall knowledge or with specific misconceptions.
Instrument & Methods: In this analytical cross-sectional survey, conducted in 2023, 300 teachers were randomly selected from the staff lists of ten purposively chosen public schools in Yogyakarta City, Indonesia. Knowledge was measured with a 16-item index and stigma with an 11-item scale adapted from an instrument validated in Indonesia. The primary analysis treated both scores as continuous; item-level associations with above-median stigma were explored using logistic regression with false discovery rate (FDR) adjustment.
Findings: Knowledge and stigma were weakly and non-significantly correlated (Spearman’s ρ=−0.10; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.21 to 0.02; adjusted slope=−0.23; 95% CI: −0.55 to 0.09). The belief that everyone in close contact with a person with TB will develop the disease was the strongest exploratory signal (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=2.52; 95% CI: 1.45–4.38; FDR-adjusted p=0.022). The belief that TB can be cured with herbal medicine (aOR=1.99; 95% CI: 1.21–3.27) did not meet the FDR threshold (adjusted p=0.072). The most prevalent misconception, continued infectiousness after treatment (62.7%), was not associated with stigma (odds ratio=1.02; 95% CI: 0.64–1.63).
Conclusion: Stigma was only weakly related to total knowledge, and the clearest exploratory signal concerned the belief that infection after close contact is inevitable. These cross-sectional associations require replication before they are used to inform school curricula.

Keywords

Tuberculosis [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/68014376]

Social Stigma

School Teachers

Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice

Schools

Child

Subjects