Public Misperceptions of the Existence of Makassar Community Lung Health Center Services

Abstract

BACKGROUND:
The incidence of TB disease is not a new disease like several other infectious diseases such as bird flu, swine flu, and the latest disease, namely Corona Virus Disease (Covid)-19 which has hit human health globally. Various realities show that people are not willing to access TB health services. This is because there is still a negative stigma for TB disease as a disease and it is embarrassing because of the lack of public knowledge.
AIM: The aim is to dig in-depth information about the causes of public misperceptions of TB services at the Makassar Community Lung Health Center.
METHODOLOGY:
This research is descriptive-interpretative research with a qualitative approach. The data collection technique was carried out by in-depth interviews.
RESULTS:
The results showed that the informants' relatively lack of knowledge about TB services at the Makassar Community Lung Health Center made the informants build erroneous perceptions. The informant's knowledge about services at the Makassar Community Lung Health Center that the health services in that place are devoted to patients with a TB disease diagnosis so that the informant becomes hesitant to visit the health facility on the grounds that the person concerned can be infected with TB disease, sometimes also for the informant to cause feelings embarrassed when said to go for treatment at the health facility.
CONCLUSION:
Based on the results of the research above, it can be concluded that some people still have less knowledge so there is a misperception about TB services at the Makassar Community Lung Health Center.