A Cross Sectional Study on the Effectiveness of RNTCP - DOT Providers in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Abstract
Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the factors influencing the effectiveness of RNTCP – DOT providers in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, India.
Method: During July 1st 2006 to March 31st 2007, 93 DOT providers and their 93 patients from 4 Tuberculosis Units (TU) in Thiruvananthapuram were interviewed separately to determine their general characteristics and whether the DOT providers effectively discharged the responsibilities laid down under RNTCP.
Results: Significant associations were found between Effectiveness of DOT Provider with DOT provider category, training in RNTCP, experience more than 2 years, experience in terms of higher number of patients and the knowledge regarding DOTS and RNTCP.
Conclusion: There is a need for a comprehensive training strategy for each and every DOT provider so as to improve their effectiveness which will ensure better treatment compliance under RNTCP. Also, the mechanism of supervision of DOT Providers must be restructured.
When publishing with Kerala Medicial Journal (KMJ), authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Work includes the material submitted for publication and any other related material submitted to KMJ. In the event that KMJ does not publish said work, the author(s) will be so notified and all rights assigned hereunder will revert to the author(s).
The assignment of rights to KMJ includes but is not expressly limited to rights to edit, publish, reproduce, distribute copies, include in indexes or search databases in print, electronic, or other media, whether or not in use at the time of execution of this agreement.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
The author(s) hereby represents and warrants that they are sole author(s) of the work, that all authors have participated in and agree with the content and conclusions of the work, that the work is original, and does not infringe upon any copyright, propriety, or personal right of any third party, and that no part of it nor any work based on substantially similar data has been submitted to another publication.
