Abstract:
Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a major health challenge with serious consequences on individuals,
family and particularly adolescents living with the disease. Previous studies focused largely on
prevalence and social relations with carriers, while little attention had been placed on
haematologic education to boost the general scientific knowledge of adolescents about the
inheritance of SCD as a means of reducing the prevalence. This study, therefore, was carried out
to determine the effect of haematologic education on knowledge, attitude to and management of
SCD among in-school adolescents in Ibadan metropolis, Nigeria. The moderating effects of
gender and religion were also examined.
Health Belief Model provided the framework, while the pretest-posttest control group quasi
experimental design of 2x2x3 factorial matrix was adopted. Two Local Government Areas
(LGAs) out of the five in Ibadan Metropolis were randomly selected. Two public co-educational
secondary schools were randomly selected from each LGA. An intact class of Junior Secondary
School II students was randomly selected from each of the selected schools. The schools were
randomly assigned to Haematologic Education and control groups, while treatment lasted eight
weeks. Instruments used were Haematologic Education guide, SCD Knowledge (r=0.81),
Attitude towards SCD (r=0.83) and SCD Management Skills (r=0.80) scales. Data were analysed
using descriptive statistics and Analysis of Covariance at 0.05 level of significance.
Majority of the participants were female (54.6%) with a mean age of 10.7±2.8 years. There were
significant main effects of treatment on knowledge (F(1,204)=95.29; partial η2
=0.32), attitude
(F(1,204)=126.09; partial η2
=0.85) and management skills of SCD (F(1,204)=139.45; partial
η
2
=0.41). The participants in Haematologic Education group obtained higher mean score in SCD
knowledge- 56.88; attitude- 51.42; management skills- 32.28 than those in the control group;
knowledge- 40.85; attitude- 15.79; management skills-19.15. There was a significant main effect
of gender on SCD management skills (F(1,204)= 10.50; partial η2
=0.05) in favour of female from
the treatment group but none on knowledge and attitude. There was a significant main effect of
religion on knowledge of SCD (F(1,204)= 8.39; partial η2
=0.30) in favour of christians but none on
attitude and management skill. There were two-way interaction effects of treatment and gender
(F(1,204)= 5.42 ; partial η2
=0.03 as well as treatment and religion F(1,204)= 5.63; partial η2
=0.03) on
SCD management skill in favour of female Christian from haematologic education group but
none on knowledge and attitude to SCD. The two-way interaction effect of religion and gender
as well as the three-way interaction effect were not significant.
Haematologic education enhanced the knowledge, attitude and management of sickle cell disease
among in-school adolescents in Ibadan metropolis, Nigeria. Therefore, haematologic education
should be included in health education curriculum for secondary schools.
