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Lack of knowledge and misperceptions about thalassaemia among college students in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional baseline study.
- Source :
-
Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases . 2/21/2020, Vol. 15 Issue 1, p1-10. 10p. - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- <bold>Background: </bold>Thalassaemia is a potentially life-threatening yet preventable inherited hemoglobin disorder. Understanding local socio-cultural context and level of public awareness about thalassaemia is pivotal for selecting effective prevention strategies. This study attempted to assess knowledge and perceptions about thalassaemia among college students in Bangladesh.<bold>Methods: </bold>A supervised cross-sectional survey was conducted on 1578 college students using a self-administered structured questionnaire. The survey took place from 15 February 2018 to 17 March 2018 in the Jamalpur district in Bangladesh. Besides the attitude-related questions, the study asked a total of 12 knowledge-related questions, which were scored on a scale of 0-12 points.<bold>Results: </bold>Over two-thirds (67%) of the college students had never heard of thalassaemia. The urban-rural dichotomy was observed among those familiar with the term; (46.4% from urban vs. 25.8% from rural colleges). A similar pattern was observed for knowledge score; 5.07 ± 1.87 for students from the urban colleges compared to 3.69 ± 2.23 for rural colleges. Students from the science background had the highest knowledge score (5.03 ± 1.85), while those from arts and humanities background scored lowest (3.66 ± 2.3). Nearly 40% of the students were not sure or did not want to be a friend of a thalassaemia patient. Whereas 39% either declined or remained hesitant about helping thalassaemia patients by donating blood. However, most of the respondents (88%) showed a positive attitude towards 'premarital' screening to prevent thalassaemia.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>This study has identified critical knowledge gaps and societal misperceptions about thalassaemia. A better understanding of these aspects will be pivotal for disseminating thalassaemia related information. As the first study of this kind in Bangladesh, findings from this study has generated baseline data that would contribute to developing effective intervention strategies in Bangladesh and other countries with a comparable socio-cultural setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *COLLEGE students
*CROSS-sectional method
*KNOWLEDGE gap theory
*SCIENCE students
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 17501172
- Volume :
- 15
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 141879536
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-020-1323-y