Factors Affecting Tuberculosis Patients’ Quality of Life in Surabaya, Indonesia

Ni Njoman Juliasih,¹ Ni Made Mertaniasih,² Cholichul Hadi,³ Soedarsono,⁴ Reny Mareta Sari,¹ Ilham Nur Alfian<sup>5

1</sup>Laboratory of Tuberculosis, Institute of Tropical Disease, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia; ²Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia; ³Department of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia; ⁴Department of Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia; ⁵Department of Personality and Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia

Correspondence: Ni Njoman Juliasih Institute of Tropical Disease
Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya 60115, Indonesia
Tel +628113642237
Fax +62315992445
Email njomanjuliasih@staf.unair.ac.id
Ni Made Mertaniasih
Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya 60115, Indonesia
Email nmademertaniasih@gmail.com

Purpose: Patients with tuberculosis need to religiously take medication daily. However, they experience several side effects from these medications. The main reason for measuring the quality of life is to explain closely related factors that affect the patient’s daily life that have been compromised with illness, while considering a patients’ well-being that has associations with individual characteristics.
Patients and Methods: This study included 157 patients with tuberculosis at 5 primary health-care centers and 2 hospitals in Surabaya. Quality of life is determined based on eight domains: general health, pain, social functioning, physical functioning, role limitation due to physical health, role limitation due to emotional problems, energy, and emotional well-being. The research instrument used to measure the quality of life is the RAND-36 Item Health Survey, whereas that used to measure mental distress is the Self-Reporting Questionnaire.
Results: Our study results show that, of the eight domains measuring the quality of life, only age exhibited a significant effect on general health (P = 0.018); sex did not significantly affect the quality of life in all domains. The level of education exhibited a significant effect only on role limitation due to emotional problems (P = 0.014). Mental distress demonstrated a significant effect on the quality of life in all domains.
Conclusion: There are several factors affecting TB patients’ quality of life. The study found that age, level of education, and comorbidity affect quality of life in several domains. However, mental distress affects quality of life in all domains.

Keywords: demographic variables, mental distress, quality of life, tuberculosis