Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Towards Thalassemia Prevention among College Students in Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, Indonesia

Ratu Istihajar Kusumadewi, Haryono Tansah, Anggraini Widjadjakusumah

Abstract


Background: Thalassemia is the most common hereditary anemia disease. Sixty thousand thalassemia major patients are born each year and require continuous blood transfusion to survive, meanwhile 12% die in the perinatal period due to anaemic conditions. Specifically in Indonesia, 10% of the societies are deemed to be carriers, but the studies on thalassemia prevention are still limited.. This study aimed to explore the correlations between knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of college students toward thalassemia prevention.

Methods: This study was a cross-sectional analytic study conducted in September−October 2015. A total of 536 respondents from various faculties in Universitas Padjadjaran were gathered based on purposive sampling. The data obtained from validated questionnaires were analyzed by Spearman’s Rank correlation test.

Results: The correlation between knowledge and attitude was weak, but the p-value was significant (rs= +0.388, ρ= 0.041). Yet, there was no correlation between knowledge and practice (rs= +0.280, ρ= 0.063), nor between attitude and practice (rs = +0.012, ρ= 0.786).

Conclusions: Knowledge positively affects college students’ attitude to thalassemia prevention; however, it does not have the same effect on its practice. It is consistent with the attitude, which also does not correlate with the practice of college students toward thalassemia prevention. Therefore, other affirmative actions or direct interventions and programs are still needed to maximize  thalassemia prevention. 


Keywords


Attitude, college students, knowledge, practice, thalassemia

Full Text:

PDF

References


  1. Piel FB, Weatherall DJ. The α-thalassemias. N Engl J Med. 2014;371(20):1908−16.
  2. Nienhuis AW, Nathan DG. Pathophysiology and clinical manifestations of the β-thalassemias. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2012;2(12):a011726.
  3. Weatherall DJ. The definition and epidemiology of non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia. Blood Rev. 2012;26 Suppl 1:S3–6..
  4. De Sanctis V, Soliman AT, Elsedfy H, Skordis N, Kattamis C, Angastiniotis M, et al. Growth and endocrine disorders in thalassemia: The international network on endocrine complications in thalassemia (I-CET) position statement and guidelines. Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2013;17(1):8–18.
  5. Miri-Moghaddam E, Motaharitabar E, Erfannia L, Dashipour A, Houshvar M. High school knowledge and attitudes towards thalassemia in Southeastern Iran. Int J Hematol Oncol Stem Cell Res. 2014;8(1):24−30.
  6. Naik RP, Haywood C Jr. Sickle cell trait diagnosis: clinical and social implications. Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ Program. 2015;2015(1):160–7..
  7. Arikunto S. Prosedur penelitian suatu pendekatan praktik. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta; 2013.
  8. McDowell I. Measuring health: a guide to rating scales and questionnaires. 3rd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2006.
  9. Al Kindi R, Al Rujaibi S, Al Kendi M. Knowledge and attitude of university students towards premarital screening program. Oman Med J. 2012;27(4):291−6.
  10. Oludarei GO, Ogili MC. Knowledge, attitude and practice of premarital counseling for sickle cell disease among youth in Yaba, Nigeria. Afr J Reprod Health. 2013;17(4):175−82.
  11. Wong LP, George E, Tan JA. A holistic approach to education programs in thalassemia for a multi-ethnic population: consideration of perspectives, attitudes, and perceived needs. J Community Genet. 2011;2(2):71−9.
  12. Al-Aama JY. Attitudes towards mandatory national premarital screening for hereditary hemolytic disorders. Health Policy. 2010;97(1):32−7.
  13. Wong LP, George E, Tan JA. Public perceptions and attitudes toward thalassaemia: influencing factors in a multi-racial population. BMC Public Health. 2011;11:193.
  14. Al-Farsi OA, Al-Farsi YM, Gupta I, Ouhtit A, Al-Farsi KS, Al-Adawi S. A study on knowledge, attitude, and practice towards premarital carrier screening among adults attending primary healthcare centers in a region in Oman. BMC Public Health. 2014;14:380.
  15. Dhimal M, Aryal KK, Dhimal ML, Gautam I, Singh SP, Bhusal CL, et al. Knowledge, attitude and practice regarding dengue fever among the healthy population of highland and lowland communities in central Nepal. PloS One. 2014;9(7):e101028.
  16. Farokhzadian J, Shahrbabaki PM, Mozaffari N. Survey of women’s knowledge, attitude and practice regarding prevention of common genital tract infection. Procedia Soc Behav Sci. 2014;136:381−4.
  17. Ul Haq N, Hassali MA, Shafie AA, Saleem F, Farooqui M, Aljadhey H. A cross sectional assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice towards hepatitis b among healthy population of Quetta, Pakistan. BMC Public Health. 2012;12:692.
  18. Latiff LA, Parhizkar S, Zainuddin H, Chun GM, Rahiman MA, Ramli NL, et al. Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) and its prevention: a cross sectional study on patients’ knowledge, attitude and practice among patients’ attending primary health care clinic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Glob J Health Sci. 2012;4(2):95–102.
  19. Dewanto JB, Tansah H, Dewi SP, Napitu H, Panigoro R, Sahiratmadja E. Increased knowledge of thalassemia promotes early carrier status examination among medical students. Univ Med. 2015;34(3):220–8.
  20. Robatsarpooshi D, Sadeghi H, Hosseini SH, Robat Sarpoushi H, Rajabzadeh R, Karimi Moghaddam S. The impact of educational films and pamphlets on the knowledge and attitude of high schools students about thalassemia. Sci J Iran Blood Transfus Organ. 2015;11(4):352−61.


Article Metrics

Abstract view : 298 times
PDF - 159 times


 This Journal indexed by

                  

          

 

Creative Commons License
AMJ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

 


View My Stats