The child has tuberculosis. What can the mother do to help her daughter?

Xiao Zhang, a high school girl, suffered from tuberculosis. Since the day she was admitted to the hospital, she refused to talk to the medical staff and lay in bed every day. One night when I went to make rounds, she hid in her bed and cried alone. I asked her what was wrong, but she just shook her head and refused to say anything. Later, I learned from her mother that she was worried that her tuberculosis would delay her college entrance examination, and that she would infect others. Her classmates knew that she had tuberculosis and talked about it. She was very anxious and lost, and she shut herself off. Her mother asked me what she could do to help her daughter?

When a tuberculosis patient has psychological problems, family members can do the following:

1. Listening and understanding: Create a safe communication environment so that patients can speak freely and share their fears, worries and troubles. When listening, family members should stay focused, make eye contact, and express understanding by nodding and responding, so that she feels valued. Although tuberculosis is an infectious disease, it is not contagious if the sputum bacteria are negative. In addition, family members and patients will wear masks and take certain protective measures.

2. Give encouragement and affirmation: The treatment process of tuberculosis is long and arduous, and it is easy to feel frustrated. Family members should pay attention to every bit of progress of the patient, such as symptom relief, taking medicine on time, etc., and give affirmation and encouragement in time to enhance the patient's confidence in overcoming the disease.

3. Companionship and care: During the patient's treatment, family members should stay by the patient's side as much as possible, watch TV, take walks, play games, and spend happy time together, so that the patient can feel the love of his family and alleviate loneliness.

4. Popularize knowledge and eliminate cognitive misunderstandings: Many patients are afraid of tuberculosis, partly because they do not know enough about the disease itself. Family members can learn about tuberculosis from medical staff and explain the causes, symptoms, treatment methods and preventive measures of tuberculosis to patients, which can effectively reduce their fear. In the process of introduction, some successful cure cases around them can be combined to enhance the confidence of patients.

5. Maintain social interaction and organize small family gatherings: If the patient's condition permits, invite close family members and friends to gather at home so that the patient can feel the normal social atmosphere and reduce loneliness and inferiority.

6. Professional intervention: Seek psychological help: If the patient's psychological problems are more serious and cannot be alleviated by the above methods, it is necessary to seek help from a professional psychologist or psychiatrist. Professionals can conduct psychological assessments and develop personalized psychological intervention plans to help patients get out of their psychological predicament.

The treatment of tuberculosis is not only about physical recovery, but also about psychological reconstruction. The love, support and companionship of family members are important forces for patients to overcome the disease.

□Qiu Weixia, nurse of Wenzhou Sixth People's Hospital and the first infectious disease specialist nurse in Zhejiang Province