Table 3.

Thematic analysis of participants’ responses focusing on transportation and food assistance as enablers, and medication factors as barriers to treatment adherence

Topic and response themes	Percentage of participants whose responses reflected each theme
	All participants (n = 168) %	Cases (n = 50) %	Controls (n = 118) %
Transportation assistance
Participant made a general comment regarding the need for transportation allowance	65	70	64
Need to increase the current transportation allowance, or provide sufficient amount to cover transportation costs noted	27	16	32
Delays receiving transportation allowance or interruptions in the provision of the transportation allowance reported	15	12	17
Participant acknowledged that they, or someone they knew, used the transportation allowance to purchase food	8	10	8
TB program-sponsored transportation that would pick up and return patients to their homes suggested	2	6	1
Request for expanded transportation allowance so that a companion could accompany a patient during treatment	2	2	2
Food assistance	(n = 161)	(n = 55)	(n = 106)
Participant made a general comment regarding the need for food assistance	50	53	49
Request for food to be provided at the time of DOT	23	18	25
Need for food assistance to lessen medication side effects noted	15	16	14
Need for food assistance to strengthen patients or enable patients to regain weight or health noted	9	16	6
Request for an allowance to purchase food	3	4	3
Medication factors	(n = 87)	(n = 35)	(n = 52)
Request for better medication with fewer side effects (some patients noted that fewer side effects could be achieved by taking fewer drugs)	55	51	58
Request for less or fewer drugs, or changes in the medications (i.e., flavor, change liquid to a pill), to make it easier to take each dose	47	34	56
Request for ‘more effective’ drugs to achieve cure in less time	18	20	17
Request to change or eliminate ‘PASER’ (para-aminosalicylic acid)	10	14	8

TB = tuberculosis; DOT = directly observed therapy.