title: Community perceptions of tuberculosis: A qualitative exploration from a gender perspective.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore community laypersons' perspective on tuberculosis (TB)-related illness experiences, meanings, behaviours and impact with reference to gender.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative, conducted in rural Bangladesh.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eleven focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted (six female and five male) in five subdistricts where the non-governmental organization BRAC operates. On average, seven purposively chosen poor, illiterate, non-TB patients participated in each FGD. Discussions were audiotaped, translated verbatim into English and analysed using MAXQDA software for qualitative data analysis, used it to assign codes to text segments to identify themes from participants' narratives.
  
  
  RESULTS
  TB was recognized as a deadly disease that could affect anyone. The discussants were fairly aware of the psychological, financial and social impacts of TB. Women faced with adverse consequences more often than men, such as trouble in ongoing and prospective marital affairs. Coughing up sputum in public by women is culturally frowned upon, resulting in enormous suffering. Women tended to describe the clinical features more vaguely than men, and often specified fewer characteristic symptoms such as blood in sputum.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The gender differences in the health and socio-economic impact of TB included perceived causality, curability, stigma, family and community support, fear of disclosure, and use of self-help or home remedies. Interactive health education covering various consequences of TB could be indispensable to changing negative beliefs.
authors.affiliation: Division of Global Health, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. karim.f@brac.net
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Karim
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: V K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Diwan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kulane
mesh_terms: D001459:Bangladesh; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011203:Poverty; D011287:Prejudice; D012424:Rural Population; D012737:Sex Factors; D012938:Social Perception; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000635:transmission