Knowledge and attitudes towards tuberculosis among secondary school students in rural areas in Hormozgan, Southern Iran

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most important causes of mortality and morbidity in developing countries and is responsible for about 25% of all preventable deaths. Therefore we aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude towards TB among guidance school in rural areas of Bandarabbas in 2010. Methods and Materials: In this cross sectional study our samples were selected using cluster sampling. All of the 81 participants completed a standard TB attitude and knowledge questionnaire. The questionnaire included 16 questions concerning knowledge and 9 questions regarding attitude towards TB. Data was entered the SPSS 13 software and analyzed using the descriptive statistics. Results: Eighty one students were enrolled in this study. Among them, 41 (50.6%) were male and 40 (49.4%) were female. The mean age of the participants was 12.67 ± 1.5 years. Almost all of the participants knew the signs and symptoms, ways of transmission and prevention methods of TB. Most of the students, 48 (59.3%), had received TB related information by television. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that knowledge toward TB is high among these students. The most important source of information of the students was television, therefore we suggest improving the quality and number of television's educational programs in order to increase the students’ knowledge, introduce the TB support centers, and changing the attitude and behavior of health staff.