AN INVESTIGATION OF ATTITUDES, BELIEFS AND BEHAVIOR OF LEPROSY PATIENTS, FAMILY MEMBERS AND PHC WORKERS TOWARDS MULTIDRUG THERAPY IN YANGZHOU AND DONGTAI DISTRICTS OF CHINA

To improve the operational efficiency of multidrug therapy (MDT) imple mentation in rural areas, an investigation into the:attitudes, beliefs and behaviour of leprosy patients and their family members as well as primary health care (PHC) workers towards MDT was carried out in Yang zhou and Dongtai Districts of China. A sample of 370 leprosy patients, 594 family members and 730 PHC workers was interviewed or investigate d individually using questionnaires. The results showed that: 1, the p resently used MDT is acceptable to a wide range of patients although a small number of patients have various problems in their treatment; 2, the patients' habit in daily drug administration, their awareness of the risk of default and confidence in MDT have a positive influence in increasing drug compliance; and 3, the supervision and encouragement of family members to patients' treatment which is associated with thei r knowledge on MDT is also beneficial to patients' drug compliance. Ho wever, only half of the PHC workers had a basic knowledge of MDT and a desire to participate in MDT implementation, a finding which clearly calls for urgent attention and improvement. In order to ensure the eff ective implementation of MDT, there is a need to educate leprosy patie nts and their family members as well as PHC workers to establish the p atients' correct awareness of MDT, obtain the family support arid moti vate the PHC workers.