Qualitative Study of Household Contacts’ Perceptions of Barriers to Pulmonary Tuberculosis Transmission in the Kedaton Community Health Center Work Area, Bandar Lampung, Indonesia

Pulmonary Tuberculosis (TB) remains a public health problem due to the high potential for transmission to family members living in the same house as the sufferer. Although various health education has been provided, transmission prevention behavior has not been carried out optimally and continuously. This study aims to examine the perception of barriers in household contact families regarding the transmission of pulmonary TB. The study was conducted using a qualitative method through a case study design in the working area of ​​the UPT Kedaton Health Center, Bandar Lampung, Lampung province Indonesia. Research informants consisted of 15 household contact family members, 1 health cadre, and 1 health worker selected using a purposive sampling technique. Data collection was carried out through in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation, then analyzed thematically based on the HBM construct. The results of the study indicate that the perception of barriers (perceived barriers) in the prevention and treatment of Pulmonary TB in household contact families still varies. Some informants admitted that they did not experience significant obstacles in carrying out preventive behaviors or accessing health services. Factors of cost, time, and access to health services were considered quite affordable due to the support of health facilities, BPJS, the environment, and family. This study found that perceived barriers were the most dominant factor influencing TB prevention behavior. These barriers included daily habits, environmental influences, social stigma, economic constraints, and low social support, all of which contributed to suboptimal TB prevention behavior. Furthermore, there are still beliefs that TB is caused by hereditary factors or mystical elements such as witchcraft. These findings emphasize the need for communicative, ongoing, and culturally appropriate health education to improve TB prevention behavior among household contacts.