Psychological Characteristics of Children With Tuberculosis

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to describe the psychological characteristics of the alienation experience in children with Tuberculosis (TB). In this study, the alienation is viewed as a cognitive construct consisting of 4 components: cognitive, socio-psychological, emotional-evaluative and behavioral. The experimental group of the empirical study consisted of 60 children aged 13-14 years with TB, a control group was represented by 60 healthy children aged 13-14 years. The following methods were used: The Cattell test, The Differential Loneliness Scale of E. N. Osin, The Associative test of Orekhova O. A., The «House-Tree-Person» test. The study revealed that children with TB realized their loneliness (U = 1 108, а = 0,0001) (cognitive component of alienation), had negative emotions to the communication (φ = 1,9, p < 0,023) (emotional-evaluative component), experienced a lack of connections with other people (φ = 2,80, p < 0,001) (social component) and had negative emotions to the learning (φ = 2,84, p < 0,001) (behavioral component of alienation). The results obtained are the basis for the development of programs for the socio-psychological rehabilitation of children with TB.