Introduction: Parents play an essential role in their children’s tuberculosis (TB) treatment
success despite many challenges from the beginning of their children’s symptoms until
completion of the TB treatment. The challenges can be described as perceived barriers,
according to the Health Belief Model, a theory of behaviour change. This study aims to explore
parents’ experiences on the challenges in achieving a successful TB treatment for their child
in two districts of Selangor state, Malaysia. Methods: The research was carried out using a
phenomenology study design. In-depth interviews were conducted among purposively
sampled parents of children with TB disease who have completed TB treatment or still
undergoing treatment from MyTB version 2.1, a national TB surveillance database. The
collected data was considered as achieving its saturation level if no new themes arise from
the latest interviews’ session. The R-based Qualitative Data Analysis (RQDA) package
version 0.2-8 was used for the thematic data analysis. Results: The total number of
participants in this study was 15 mothers of children with TB disease; 12 (80%) of the children
had completed TB treatment. There were six subthemes identified from this study focusing on
the theme of multiple challenges, such as health symptoms challenges, TB investigation
challenges, personal challenges, healthcare facilities challenges, administration medication
challenges, and community challenges. Conclusions: Parents highlighted many challenges
during the child’s illness phase, and they should be given adequate education and appropriate
support to ensure TB treatment adherence. TB program managers should take action
following the relevant parents’ feedback regarding the quality of TB care in a healthcare
facility