Assessing Knowledge of Sickle Cell and Screening-Uptake among College of Education Students in Southwest, Nigeria

Abstract

The Sickle cell disease (SCD) continues to be an important global public health problem of immense proportion and broad impact affecting approximately 300,000 to 400,000 infants each year, primarily in Sub-Saharan African countries. Studies have shown that students in Colleges of Education lacks adequate knowledge of SCD and premarital screening. This study assessed SCD awareness, knowledge, and its screening-uptake among College of Education (CoE) students in Southwest, Nigeria.The research adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design. Study population was Emmanuel Alayande CoE, Oyo, and Osun State CoE in Oyo and Osun States, Nigeria respectively. Sample size of 300 per CoE. A validated semi-structured questionnaire at a Cronbach’s Alpha internal consistency range of 0.72 to 0.85 was used to collect data. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics at 5% level of significance.Results revealed the mean age of respondents to be 20.6 ± 2.5years. Participants’ level of awareness of SCD was high (88.8%) and (93.2%); with knowledge mean score of 6.8 ± 2.4 and 6.6 ± 2.2; p >0.05 for EACE and OSCE respectively. 47.7% of EACE and 21.8% of OSCE respondents did not go for SCD screening.In conclusion, a high level of awareness and inadequate knowledge about SCD existed. Uptake of SCD screening was poor, as almost half of respondents did not go for SCD screening. It is recommended that governmental and non-governmental organizations should introduce effective health education programmes on SCD in tertiary educational institutions to promote informed health decision for SCD screening-uptake. Keywords: Knowledge, Nigeria, SCD screening-uptake, Sickle cell disease, Southwest DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/100-01 Publication date: May 31 st 2022