Psychosocial dimensions of drug default in leprosy

The study focuses on the causes and factors related to drug default among leprosy patients. 52 cases were selected using systematic random sampling technique on the basis of clinic records showing drug default. Awareness about the disease, motivation to be cured, age, caste, education, income, knowledge of the significant others in the family regarding the patient's condition were taken as variables. Statistical analysis of association and relation reveal that motivation to be cured is very significantly different for high and low groups of awareness about the disease. In addition, high and low levels of motivation differed significantly when treated individually with other variables as age, education and rural/urban background. These results demonstrate that improved health education, rendered by the medical team can yield far better results in eliminating the problem of drug default.