[A social backing program and motivation provision in patients with tuberculosis].

The purpose of the study was to obtain information on tuberculosis patients' needs, perception, and expectations from health care as a whole and social backing in order to improve the implementation of a program for enhancing tuberculosis patients' motivation for recovery and treatment. Anonymous voluntary questioning using the standard questionnaire was carried out among new tuberculosis cases registered to be treated in 4 subjects of the Russian Federation (the Oryol, Vladimir, and Belgorod Regions, and the Republic of Mariy-El). Eighty-seven patients who had stopped being treated before the appointed time and 1302 patients who were receiving chemotherapy at the time of questioning were interviewed using the questionnaire. The main reasons for treatment discontinuance in those who stopped treatment before the appointed time were the necessity of earning their living (30%), alcohol consumption (30%), inadequate health education of the patients who considered themselves to be healthy (25%). Most patients (67%) preferred rewards as social backing, products/hot food (41%), and fare (32%). Among the proposed social backing schemes, the most popular ones were those that envisaged small daily rewards (23%) or a large final bonus (21%). The majority (67%) of patients preferred outpatient treatment. Thus, patients with tuberculosis face a great deal of problems that affect their motivation for treatment. To satisfy some of these problems is not the direct duties of an antituberculosis service due to the fact that the manning table lacks appropriate posts and an item of expenses. Therefore additional funds should be allocated from the budgets of a subject of the Russian Federation and/or municipal entities for adequate organization of social backing of patients with tuberculosis to enhance the efficiency of their treatment. Collaboration of antituberculosis services of the Russian Federation's subjects with social organizations and an addiction service along the availability of psychological and legal consultations to patients is the most optimum variant of social backing organization to improve the patients' motivation for treatment.