Abstract:
Premarital sickle cell screening is a test done to screen intending couples in order to determine their genotype before marriage. This study investigated the knowledge and attitude of adult students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), Awka as correlate of adherence to premarital sickle cell screening. A cross sectional descriptive research design was used for the study. A sample size of 370 adult students was drawn from an estimated population of 10,400 through a proportional, stratified, sampling technique. Data were collected using a researcher developed questionnaire. Data were analyzed descriptively using frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviations. Chi-square test was used to test the hypotheses. Findings revealed that the participants had high knowledge about premarital sickle cell screening. There was also positive attitude by the participants towards pre-marital sickle cell screening. Reasons for not going for the test by few married adult students were lack of knowledge of premarital sickle cell screening and its consequences to an affected individual, while the unmarried stated their reasons to be fear of exposing ones genotype to the public and fear of stigma following an affected individual. The percentage of unmarried adult that indicated willingness to go for screening test were higher than the percentage of married adults that adhered to premarital screening. There was no significant relationship between knowledge and adherence to premarital sickle cell screening among married and unmarried adult students. There was significant relationship between attitude and adherence to premarital sickle cell screening among unmarried adult students; however no significant relationship was found among married adult students. Based on the findings, it was concluded that university students can serve as advocates for creating awareness on premarital sickle cell screening due to their high knowledge. There is need for enlightment campaign to address the issue of stigma and discrimination about sickle cell disorder.
