Person-centered and youth-oriented interventions to improve TB Care for adolescents and young adults.

Publication date: Nov 15, 2024

Globally adolescents and young adults (AYA) with tuberculosis (TB) face unique challenges. Until recently they have received little attention and few tailored interventions exist. To improve TB outcomes in this population, there is a need to implement tailored interventions. However, limited research has been conducted about how to meet the needs of AYA with tuberculosis. In this paper we present the findings of a qualitative study to explore the needs of AYA with TB in Zimbabwe and to identify interventions to optimize their engagement in TB care. We conducted two participatory workshops with 16 AYA, aged 10-24 years diagnosed with TB to explore their experiences of TB disease and treatment. Through subsequent interviews with 15 of the same AYA and with two other key stakeholder groups (health care providers n = 11 and policy makers n = 9), we sought to identify areas of convergence and divergence about what youth-orientated services and policies would be effective in Zimbabwe. Qualitative data were analyzed iteratively and thematically. The findings are presented to align with four levels of a socio-ecological framework: individual, community, health system and policy. All three stakeholder groups highlighted the unmet mental health and TB literacy needs of AYA, which are particularly acute early in their TB care journey, as well as the imperative of engendering family support and securing the continuity of educational or employment opportunities during and after receiving TB care. There was a consensus that clinical services needed to become more youth-centered by extending training for health care providers and investing in peer-delivered psychosocial support. More broadly, there was also a strong consensus that adolescent-specific TB policies require further development and implementation, accompanied by community-based TB education and awareness campaigns to emphasize the curability of TB and to reduce TB related stigma. There is much to be done to improve TB care for AYA. We found that there is need for alignment on where investment is needed to support the development of context-appropriate and effective interventions. There is an opportunity to benefit from translational learning from other successful approaches, such as HIV, within the region. Implementation of evidence-based interventions and youth-friendly policies and programs are much needed to improve outcomes for AYA with TB.

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Concepts Keywords
Psychosocial Adolescents
Training Adults
Tuberculosis Aya
Zimbabwe Care
Centered
Improve
Interventions
Needed
Outcomes
Policies
Tailored
Tb
Tuberculosis
Young
Youth

Semantics

Type Source Name
disease MESH tuberculosis
pathway KEGG Tuberculosis
disease MESH Infectious Diseases
drug DRUGBANK Coenzyme M
pathway REACTOME Reproduction
drug DRUGBANK Trestolone
pathway REACTOME Infectious disease
disease IDO infectious disease
disease IDO site
disease MESH infections
drug DRUGBANK Etoperidone
drug DRUGBANK Aspartame
disease MESH AIDS
disease IDO country
disease IDO facility
disease IDO process
disease MESH misdiagnoses
disease MESH anxiety
disease IDO blood
drug DRUGBANK Isoxaflutole
drug DRUGBANK Ethanol
disease MESH mental illness
disease MESH depression
drug DRUGBANK Spinosad
disease MESH privacy
drug DRUGBANK Isoniazid
disease MESH lifestyle
drug DRUGBANK Medical Cannabis
disease MESH low sperm count
drug DRUGBANK Tropicamide
disease MESH loneliness
disease IDO susceptibility
disease IDO intervention
disease MESH lung disease
disease MESH morbidity
disease MESH educational attainment
drug DRUGBANK Adenosine
disease MESH chronic conditions
drug DRUGBANK Methylergometrine
disease MESH pulmonary tuberculosis
disease MESH diabetes mellitus
disease MESH Cancer
disease MESH Psychosocial functioning
disease MESH COVID 19
disease MESH Psychological stress
disease MESH community transmission
disease MESH Emergency
disease MESH bullying

Original Article

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