Social support among rural tuberculosis patients in Guizhou province

  Objective  To investigate the status and influencing factors of social support among tuberculosis patients in rural regions of Guizhou province.

  Methods  We selected 2 500 tuberculosis patients at 25 rural towns in 5 counties across Guizhou province using random sampling and conducted a self-administered anonymous questionnaire survey with the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS) from September 2016 to April 2017.

  Results  For the 2 418 patients completing the survey, the mean overall SSRS score was 34.74 ± 4.69 and the mean scores for subjective social support, objective social support, and social support utilization were 17.64 ± 3.17, 10.04 ± 1.52, and 7.06 ± 1.57, respectively. The SSRS scores were not significantly different by age, annual income, medical reimbursement ratio, and drug resistance (P > 0.05 for all) but the scores differed significantly by gender, education, marital status, occupation, and whether being sputum smear positive (P < 0.05 for all) among the patients. Major influencing factors for social support for the patients were gender, education, marital status, occupation, and the result of sputum smear (P < 0.05 for all).

  Conclusion  The social support is at a reasonable level among tuberculosis patients in rural areas of Guizhou province but strong social support still needs to be rovide to some patient groups.