A woman's lived experience with directly observed therapy for tuberculosis-a case study.

This is a case study to investigate the lived experience of tuberculosis (TB) treatment for a Hispanic female. The theme was accumulating aggravation. Her daily life was interrupted with appointments and negative side effects. She had to wear a mask that made her feel isolated. She felt ignored by her doctors. Although she experienced the opposite feeling of being overly observed, the informant began to feel like she was always being watched. The participant described herself as paranoid due to the threat of imprisonment for nonadherence. The accumulating aggravation made the directly observed therapy short-course (DOTS) experience a difficulty and stressful experience.