Abstract:

Objective: To understand the current situation and its influencing factors of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) core knowledge awareness and discriminatory attitudes of first- and second-year college students towards PTB patients in Zhejiang Province, to provide a scientific basis for taking effective measures to reduce PTB discrimination in college. Methods: From May 1 to 20, 2022, an electronic questionnaire survey was conducted on junior students in 20 colleges in Zhejiang Province using stratified cluster random sampling. A total of 4427 pieces of questionnaire were sent out, and 4414 valid ones were retrieved to analyze the current situation and influencing factors of students’ awareness of core knowledge of PTB prevention and treatment and their discriminatory attitudes towards TB patients. Results: The total awareness rate of the core knowledge of TB prevention and control among the freshmen and sophomores of the 20 colleges was 81.6% (28804/35312). College students had the highest awareness rate (96.2%, 4248/4414) for the core knowledge of “Patients should go to TB designated medical institutions after getting TB”, while the lowest awareness rate of the core knowledge was for “TB is a chronic infectious disease” (51.0%, 2251/4414).Among all respondents, 641 (14.5%) had a discriminatory attitude towards TB patients and 3773 (85.5%) had a non-discriminatory attitude towards TB patients. The results of multivariable analysis showed that female students were less prone to discriminatory attitudes towards TB patients compared to male students (OR=0.606, 95%CI:0.497-0.739); Compared with students with an average monthly living expenses ≤500 yuan, students with average monthly living expenses of 501-1000 yuan (OR=0.514, 95%CI: 0.282-0.935), 1001-1500 yuan (OR=0.459, 95%CI: 0.267-0.789), 1501-2000 yuan (OR=0.436, 95%CI: 0.254-0.747), and >2000 yuan (OR=0.492, 95%CI: 0.283-0.857) had a lower discriminatory attitude towards TB patients; Students knowing messages of “TB is a chronic infectious disease” (OR=0.801, 95%CI: 0.671-0.956), “Coughing or expectoration for more than 2 weeks or having blood in sputum should be suspected for having TB” (OR=0.608, 95%CI: 0.448-0.825), “During staying in school, if having suspicious symptoms of PTB or being diagnosed with PTB, student should actively report this to the school authority, and do not conceal their illness or go to class with illness” (OR=0.405, 95%CI: 0.332-0.494), “Go to bed early and get up early, keep a balanced diet, exercise persistently can improve physical resistance” (OR=0.639, 95%CI: 0.503-0.811)had significantly lower discriminatory attitude towards TB patients than the rest of the survey participants. Conclusion: Freshmen and sophomores in colleges in Zhejiang Province have certain knowledge of TB prevention and control, but their understanding of TB is not comprehensive, and there are still discriminatory attitudes towards TB patients. Schools should further strengthen health education for male students and college students with low average monthly living expenses, and carry out theoretical and practical education from the beginning of enrollment to improve students’ attitudes towards TB patients.

Key words: Tuberculosis, Students, Prejudice, Factor analysis,statistical