Objective To explore the dilemma experience in self-management process in newly treated patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Methods The phenomenology research method and the purposive sampling method were used to select the newly treated hospitalized patients with pulmonary tuberculosis from July to September 2022 as research objects, the semi-structured interviews were performed, and the themes were extracted by the Colaizzi 7-step analysis method.

Results Based on the theory of planned behavior, the themes were summarized, including 3 dimensions and 9 themes. ① behavioral attitudes, including being deeply troubled by negative emotions and neglecting the importance of self-management; ② subjective norms, including insufficient family support, social isolation and the shackles of "tobacco and alcohol culture"; ③ perceptual behavior control, including bad habits hard to change, delayed medical treatment due to lack of disease knowledge, poor compliance behavior caused by insufficient disease risk awareness, and severe adverse reactions caused by multi-drug combinations.

Conclusion The maintenance of self-management behavior in newly treated patients with pulmonary tuberculosis is influenced by multiple factors, and medical staffs should promote the improvement of patients′ behavioral intentions from three aspects including changing patients′ subjective behavior cognition, valuing external support and providing professional guidance and personalized health education, in order to improve patients′ self-management ability.