Knowledge And Perception Of Sickle Cell Disease Among Senior Secondary School Students In Ilorin Metropolis
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Date
2013-06
Journal Title
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Volume Title
Publisher
College of Health Sciences (A WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Manpower Development), University of Ilorin, Nigeria.
Abstract
Sickle cell disease (SCD) remains a major public health issueand inadequate knowledge of SCD and lack of centres for genetic counseling in this country probably contributed to the high prevalence. The aim of this study was to assess the level of knowledge and perception of Senior Secondary School students in Ilorin Metropolis toward SCD and to determine the proportion of the students that know their haemoglobin genotype. Descriptive cross-sectional study was undertaken among students. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 500 respondents from 10 senior secondary schools and a semi-structured, self- administered questionnaire was used as a research tool. Analysis was done using SPSS version 20 software package. The mean age of the respondents was there were more females (54.4%) than males (45.6%). About 79.5% of the respondents have heard about SCD, but only 26.6% of them have good knowledge of SCD and haemoglobin genotype. The attitude of students toward a sickler was poor as many (51.0%) will not accept sickler as a friend and majority (90.3%) will not be willing to marry SCD patient. Only 52.0% of the respondents knew their haemoglobin genotype before the study. Female students had better knowledge score (p-value = There is need for continuous awareness programmes on SCD especially among male students and concerted policy should be put in place by government that genotype testing be a compulsory part of pre-secondary school entrance requirements.
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Keywords
Sickle Cell Disease, Knowledge And Perception Secondary School Students
Citation
Durotoye, I.A., Salaudeen, A.G., Babatunde, A.S., Bosah, E. C.& Ajayi, F.D.