Illness meanings and experiences for pre-ulcer and ulcer conditions of Buruli ulcer in the Ga-West and Ga-South Municipalities of Ghana

Table 3 Reported categories of distress for respondents with pre-ulcers and ulcers

Categories of distress					Pre-ulcers, N = 15	Ulcers, N = 166
	Total %	Spon. %	Most important %	Mean Prominence	Total %	Spon. %	Most important %	Mean Prominence	P-values
Physical problems	80.0	60.0	13.3	1.80	98.2	94.6	46.4	3.32	***
Fever	26.7	13.3	0.0	0.40	28.9	9.6	0.6	0.40
Pain	66.7	46.7	6.7	1.33	86.8	72.3	14.5	2.02	*
Smell	6.7	0.0	0.0	0.07	66.3	14.5	1.2	0.84	***
Weight loss	13.3	0.0	0.0	0.13	56.6	18.7	0.6	0.77	***
Loss of appetite	20.0	0.0	0.0	0.20	43.4	9.0	0.0	0.52
Weakness	26.7	6.7	0.0	0.33	37.4	8.4	0.0	0.46
Problems with mobility and use of affected limbs	40.0	13.3	6.7	0.73	83.1	68.7	29.5	2.40	***
Condition is ugly	13.3	6.7	0.0	0.20	41.6	3.6	0.0	0.45	*
Social problems	40.0	26.7	40.0	1.87	89.2	67.5	36.1	2.65	*
Rejection from family	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	19.3	2.4	0.0	0.22
Rejection by friends / peers	6.7	0.0	0.0	0.07	22.9	3.6	0.0	0.27
Disrupted education	33.3	20.0	33.3	1.53	56.6	45.2	26.5	1.81
Loss of income	6.7	6.7	6.7	0.33	38.0	22.3	9.6	0.89	*
Psychological /emotional	86.7	20.0	46.7	2.47	78.9	28.9	16.3	1.57
Anxiety	66.7	13.3	33.3	1.80	61.5	15.1	9.6	1.05
Fear of surgery	20.0	0.0	0.0	0.20	18.7	3.6	1.8	0.28
Embarrassed about condition	20.0	6.7	13.3	0.67	49.4	12.7	4.2	0.75
Miscellaneous	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	12.7	12.7	1.2	0.29
Disrupted life and sleeplessness	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	12.7	12.7	1.2	0.29

Categories reported by less than 5% of respondents are not included in the table. Grouped categories (in bold) computed from responses. Columns indicate total reported responses in percentages, spontaneously reported responses in percentages and the mean prominence. Total reported values include combined spontaneous and probed responses. The mean prominence was based on assigned values to each reported category (3 = Most troubling distress, 2 = spontaneous response, 1 = probed response, 0 = not reported). The Wilcoxon ranksum test was used to compare means for pre-ulcers and ulcers (*p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01 ***, p ≤ 0.001).

ISSN: 1471-2458