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Adult sickle cell diseased
patients’ knowledge and attitude toward the preventive
measures of sickle cell disease crisis
Dihya Ebrahim Jaffer*, Fatima Khairallh Amrallah, Khadija
Mohammed Ali, Nafeesa Abdulla Mohammed, Ridha Abdulla Hasan
and Zainab Mahdi Humood
Ministry
of Health Intensive care unit (Ward 205), P.O. BOX 12,
Salmaniya Medical Complex, Kingdom of Bahrain.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
dhiya99@hotmail.com.
Tel: +97339880921.
Accepted 9 June 2009 |
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Sickle cell crisis is preventable most of the times. However,
in Bahrain sickling crisis is the most complained and cause
of hospital admission. No data is available regarding the
extent of knowledge and attitudes towards the sickling
crisis’s preventive measures the adult Bahraini sickle cell
patients have. The purpose of this paper is to explore the
extent of knowledge and attitude of Bahraini adult sickle
cell patients towards the preventive measures of sickle cell
crisis. The objective is to establish baseline data and to
utilize the findings in designing awareness programs that
would assist the sickle cell patients to prevent the
sickling crisis. A convenient sample of 84 Bahraini adult
sickle cell patients achieved. Structured interview approach
was used to assess the subjects' knowledge and attitudes
toward the preventives measures of sickle cell crisis. The
results indicated that the sample was moderately
knowledgeable about the sickling preventive measures (Mean
of Knowledge score = 55%) and moderately compliant (Mean of
Attitudes score = 63%). The subjects' knowledge (about the
preventive measures) was found to be moderately and
positively correlated (r = 0.57, r2 = 0.32, p = 0.000) with
their attitudes toward crisis prevention. Designing
awareness programs regarding the preventive measures of
sickle cell crisis is an evident need for these patients.
Key
words:
Sickle cell disease (SCD), sickle cell trait (SCT), sickle
cell disease crisis, sickling crisis, Vaso-occlusion crisis
(VOC), knowledge, attitude, preventive measures of crisis. |
