Abstract:

Objective: To understand the tuberculosis awareness level of college students in Tianjin City, and to provide basic data for the subsequent improvement of the input-output ratio of tuberculosis health education in schools. Methods: Nine high-epidemic schools in 2020 were selected from the two educational campuses of Xiqing District and Haijiaoyuan District in Tianjin City, and an electronic questionnaire survey was conducted among the students from September to October 2021. The questionnaire included 32 tuberculosis cognition questions from four dimensions, namely disease cognition, diagnosis and treatment cognition, prevention and control cognition and preventive treatment cognition. Each correct answer was awarded 1 point, and the maximum cognitive score of each person was 32 points. Demographic characteristics and answers of respondents were collected. Descriptive method was used to analyze students’ knowledge of tuberculosis, and generalized linear model was used to analyze factors affecting students’ cognitive level of tuberculosis. Results: A total of 27974 valid questionnaires were retrieved this time. The awareness rate of core knowledge of tuberculosis in schools was 87.20% (243941/279740), and the awareness rate of knowledge cognition was 68.62% (614241/895168). The average scores of tuberculosis disease, diagnosis and treatment, prevention and control and preventive treatment were 6 (5,8), 5 (4,6), 8 (7,10) and 2 (2,3) respectively. The awareness rates of the four dimensions were 67.95% (171063/251766), 72.14% (141271/195818), 76.18% (234412/307714) and 48.26% (67495/139870), respectively. Among them, the awareness rates of sub-items such as the awareness of onset of tuberculosis, BCG vaccine and prophylactic medication were 44.18% (37073/83922), 38.46% (21519/55948) and 33.13% (18537/55948), respectively. Multivariable analysis showed, the average score of female was 23 (20,28) points, higher than that of male (21 (18,25) points;β=1.97, 95%CI: 1.84-2.09). Those with bachelor’s degree or above averagely scored 23 (20,27) points, higher than those with technical secondary school degree (20 (16,28)) and junior college degree (20 (17,23);β=2.13, 95%CI: 1.84-2.42). The highest average score was 23 (20,28) for students who participated in three tuberculosis awareness promotion activities, that is, the number of previous participation in tuberculosis awareness promotion activities was related to students’ cognitive level (β=0.44, 95%CI: 0.40-0.49). Conclusion: The awareness rate of core knowledge of tuberculosis among college students in Tianjin City is acceptable. It is necessary to carry out targeted and planned school tuberculosis health education activities in schools according to different gender and educational backgrounds in the aspects of tuberculosis knowledge and preventive medication.

Key words: Tuberculosis, Students, Health knowledge, attitudes, practice, Factor analysis, statistical