The impact of structured counselling on patient knowledge at a private TB program in Karachi

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of structured counselling on the knowledge of patients and families attending the Tuberculosis (TB) clinic at the Indus Hospital, Karachi. METHODS: This was a case control study conducted from 17th December 2018 to 28th December 2018 at The Indus Hospital, Karachi. We evaluated the baseline knowledge regarding TB in 60 patients and families, 30 of whom had undergone at least one counselling session at the TB clinic. We then compared the scores achieved by each group in three main categories of tuberculosis: disease, treatment and prevention. RESULTS: The average scores in all three categories of TB knowledge were higher in counselled participants compared to non-counselled participants. CONCLUSION: We found that structured counselling resulted in improved patient knowledge and clarified common misconceptions about TB which has been shown to result in improved patient outcomes. Effective counselling is an easy to implement strategy in a low resource setting. A trained psychosocial counsellor is essential for every TB program in Pakistan.