BackgroundDespite being curable, tuberculosis is still a stigmatized disease. Not only is TB patients’ suffering due to its clinical manifestations, but also because of society’s prejudice, embarrassing situations, and even self-discrimination. This study aims to investigate psychosocial experiences of patients who have completed tuberculosis treatment in São Carlos a municipality in the interior of São Paulo State, Brazil.MethodsThis study, of a clinical-qualitative nature, sought to understand the meanings provided by the participants themselves. Fifteen individuals, who had successfully completed tuberculosis treatment, participated in this research. The sample size was established using the information saturation criterion. Data were collected by means of interviews with in-depth open-ended questions. Data were treated by categorizing and analyzing content according to themes.ResultsRegardless of all progress, this study found that TB still causes patients to suffer from fear of transmission, social prejudice, and death. Despite the fact that the emotional support provided by families and healthcare professionals is considered essential to treatment adherence and completion, participants in this study reveal that friends and colleagues have distanced themselves from them for fear of contagion and/or prejudice. Ignorance about the disease and its transmission modes can be found in the interviewees’ statements, which seems to indicate that they have become vectors of transmission of stigma themselves. Patients’ medical leave from work during treatment may be due to both their health conditions and their attempt to avoid social/emotional embarrassment. There are accounts that TB has caused psychosocial damage to patients’ lives and that they feel more fatigue and lassitude and have begun to pay more attention to their own health.ConclusionsHealthcare workers should be aware of the ways TB treatment affect patients’ psychosocial life and develop strategies to mitigate these effects and provide opportunities for them to share their anxiety, suffering, and bio-psychosocial changes. In addition, healthcare professionals should seek to educate and, as a result, empower TB patients and their families with regard to this disease so as to break the existing vicious cycle of misinformation and prejudice.

Clinical-qualitative study aimed at analyzing the experiences of users who completed treatment for tuberculosis in the county of São Carlos-São Paulo, Brazil. Data were collected from February to September 2011, through semi-structured interviews, with 15 users. These were organized according to the content analysis technique, thematic modality. The patients face difficulties in being diagnosed and use different health services; they suffer with the reactions resulting from the treatment, and the supervision of drug intake is seen both as a facilitator for the formation of the link and also as a deterrent to adherence. Assessment researches related to difficulty in establishing the diagnosis and the monitoring of the supervised treatment should be made to minimize the barriers to control the disease.

Introduction: Individuals living with hepatitis C experience a series of changes in their lives, caused by either the disease itself or its treatment or both. In this sense, living with a chronic disease such as hepatitis C implies that patients must change their lifestyles, which requires that they rethink their habits in light of the new reality. To comprehend chronic hepatitis C patients’ perceptions, meanings, and quality-of-life effects. Methodology: Qualitative research; interviews with 12 patients at a specialized outpatient clinic from February to July 2012. The cohort size was determined by theoretical saturation and the interviews were analyzed by means of content analysis. Results: Data were organized into four categories: on medication, referenced fears, impact on sexuality, and coping with the new reality. The categorized data were discussed around the following themes: “Becoming sick” due to treatment and perceived aspects and Undergoing treatment and how to cope with it. Conclusion: Patients’ everyday lives and quality of life in general are affected especially by adverse side effects of hepatitis C medication and an assortment of feelings and uncertainties about the disease prognosis. Notwithstanding, most patients manage to find ways to cope with the treatment and complete it expecting a satisfactory outcome.