Introduction

Insufficient knowledge about tuberculosis (TB) attempts against programs to control this disease and lead to mistaken behaviors in caring for the patient’s health, the care provided by TB control programs, and caring for the patient’s family and the community.

Objective

The work sought to describe the scientific production of instruments and assessment tools on knowledge about TB, available for the health staff, patients, the community, and families.

Methodology

An integrative search was carried out in four databases (Embase, Science Direct, Redalyc, and Biblioteca Virtual de la Salud-BVS), with the following inclusion criteria: full-text articles (in English, Spanish, or Portuguese), published between August 2010 and August 2015.

Results

The study included 42 articles, systematized in Excel for each of the study populations. Systematization permitted evidencing greater scientific production in Latin America and Africa and research aimed at assessing knowledge by the health staff and the community. Of the 42 articles selected, only five used instruments with some type of validation and were subjected to reliability tests through Cronbach’s alpha coefficient.

Conclusions

The results permitted identifying the need to conduct research that includes the design and validation of instruments, as well as the evaluation of knowledge by patients and the families.

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