Similarly, if the people don’t consider themselves to be at risk of TB/ MDRTB, their uptake of the BCG vaccine will be low and for those on treatment adherence will be poor. Therefore increased susceptibility is associated with healthy behaviours while decreased susceptibility is associated with unhealthy behaviour. The other important perception is on the severity or the seriousness of the disease. The perceived seriousness of a disease not only depend on the medical information available about the condition but also the individual beliefs about the disease and the effects it would have on their social life. TB may be perceived as serous disease not because of it infectiousness but because of the discrimination one may go through after diagnosis. Health behaviour will also depend on perceived benefits and the barriers that one has to overcome to attain the said benefits. Individuals are likely to adopt certain preventive measure/treatment based on the opinions regarding the effectiveness of that particular treatment/preventive measure …show more content…
The HBM construct of motivating factors is also inspiring in the present. Some enabling/supporting factors must be present to enable the predisposed individuals to seek or adopt the prescribed health behavior. Enabling factors such as accessibility of health services, financial status of the individual, the attitude of the health care workers, waiting hours at the health facility and support from the family members may have positive or negative influence on the individual’s motivation to seek TB treatment.
Social support is particularly very important when dealing with a stigmatized disease condition like in the case of TB. The kind of support a TB patient get from the family members, health personnel and friends will impact either positively or negatively on the patient’ s ability to seek treatment early and adhere to the treatment for the prolonged period of time. In the present study, the author will seek to determine how these factors interact and whether the level of