Addressing tobacco smoking and drinking to improve TB treatment outcomes, in South Africa: A feasibility study of the ProLife program

Louwagie, Goedele M., Morojele, Neo, Siddiqi, Kamran, Mdege, Noreen D., Tumbo, John, Omole, Olu, Pitso, Lerato, Bachmann, Max O. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1770-3506 and Ayo-Yusuf, Olalekan A. (2020) Addressing tobacco smoking and drinking to improve TB treatment outcomes, in South Africa: A feasibility study of the ProLife program. Translational Behavioral Medicine, 10 (6). 1491–1503. ISSN 1869-6716

[thumbnail of Accepted_Manuscript]
Preview
PDF (Accepted_Manuscript) - Accepted Version
Download (638kB) | Preview

Abstract

Alcohol and tobacco use may lead to negative treatment outcomes in tuberculosis (TB) patients, and even more so if they are HIV-infected. We developed and tested the feasibility of a complex behavioral intervention (ProLife) delivered by lay health workers (LHWs) to improve treatment outcomes in TB patients who smoke tobacco and/or drink alcohol, at nine clinics in South Africa. The intervention comprised three brief motivational interviewing (MI) sessions augmented with a short message service (SMS) program, targeting as appropriate: tobacco smoking, harmful or hazardous drinking and medication adherence. Patients received SMSs twice a week. We measured recruitment and retention rates and assessed fidelity to the MI technique (MI Treatment Integrity 4.1 tool). Finally, we explored LHWs' and patients' experiences through interviews and semi-structured questionnaires, respectively. We screened 137 TB patients and identified 14 smokers, 13 alcohol drinkers, and 18 patients with both behaviors. Participants' mean age was 39.8 years, and 82.2% were men. The fidelity assessments pointed to the LHWs' successful application of key MI skills, but failure to reach MI competency thresholds. Nevertheless, most patients rated the MI sessions as helpful, ascribed positive attributes to their counselors, and reported behavioral changes. SMSs were perceived as reinforcing but difficult language and technical delivery problems were identified as problems. The LHWs' interview responses suggested that they (a) grasped the basic MI spirit but failed to understand specific MI techniques due to insufficient training practice; (b) perceived ProLife as having benefitted the patients (as well as themselves); (c) viewed the SMSs favorably; but (d) considered limited space and privacy at the clinics as key challenges. The ProLife program targeting multiple risk behaviors in TB patients is acceptable but LHW training protocol, and changes in wording and delivery of SMS are necessary to improve the intervention. Trial registration: ISRCTN62728852.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: alcohol use,medication adherence,motivational interviewing,tobacco cessation,tuberculosis,mhealth,applied psychology,behavioral neuroscience,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3200/3202
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Services and Primary Care
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 07 Nov 2019 10:30
Last Modified: 26 Jun 2024 11:30
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/72893
DOI: 10.1093/tbm/ibz100

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item