Abstract: Objective To explore the effect of psychological treatment for the smear positive TB patients in floating population in Guangzhou and its effect on patients’ treatment adherence.  Methods Psychological states of the 640 new smear positive TB patients who were diagnosed and initiated treatment from September 2, 2008 to April 30, 2010 were evaluated by Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) and Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS). One hundred and sixty-four cases with psychological obstacles were randomly divided into control group and intervention group with 82 cases each. 2H₃R₃Z₃E₃/4H₃R₃ was applied to both groups while comprehensive psychological intervention (mainly supporting treatment) was applied to the intervention group. The differences of psychological states and treatment compliance rates at the end of the second month between the two groups were compared. t test (measurement data) andχ² test (count data) were applied and the level of significance was set to P<0.05.  Results The psychological obstacles of the 164 patients were mainly reflected in four factors (somatization，anxiety，obsession and depression). After intervention the scores of the factors in control group were 1.51±0.53, 1.50±0.46, 1.75±0.54 and 1.65±0.61 respectively. While those of the intervention group were 1.25±0.49, 1.27±0.44, 1.50±0.50 and 1.36±0.60, which were significantly lower than the domestic norms (1.37±0.48、1.39±0.43、1.62±0.52、1.50±0.59) (t=2.21, 2.46, 2.17 and 2.11, P<0.05) and the control group（t=3.27, 3.28, 3.08 and 3.09，P<0.01）. The scores of SSRS in the interventions (22.67±5.51, 8.75±3.15, 7.98±2.19 and 37.23±6.67) were higher than those in the controls (20.56±4.43, 6.93±2.21, 7.01±2.42 and 33.87±5.43), and the differences had statistical significance (t=2.70, 4.28, 2.69 and 3.53，P<0.01). The treatment compliance rate in the intervention group at the end of the second month’s treatment (96.3%，79/82） was significantly higher than that in the control group (82.9%，68/82)(χ²=7.94, P<0.01). Conclusion Psychological intervention in floating TB patients can effectively improve their treatment adherence.

Key words: Tuberculosis, pulmonary/therapy, Psychotherapy, Patient compliance, Guangzhou city