This study aims to develop an acceptable and feasible psychosocial support (PSS) package that will be ready to embed within the existing National TB Control Programme (NTP) service delivery system in Bangladesh.
The existing service delivery system does not include any screening for mental health problems among MDR TB patients or psychosocial counselling for the MDR TB patients.
We aim to develop an acceptable and feasible PSS package to embed within the existing NTP service delivery system. Our specific objectives are to assess the existing MDR-TB services, exploring the facilitators and barriers in the current service provision for mental health support; assess the prevalence of depression among MDR-TB patients using the depression module of the Public Health questionnaire (PHQ-9); validate PHQ-9 in the Bangladesh context; identify whether depression is associated with the cure rate; and develop tools, materials, and guidelines for a PSS package that is applicable to the Bangladesh MDR-TB programme context.
