A Description of the Knowledge and Attitude Toward Premarital Sickle Cell among Unmarried Adults Residence of Naraguta Village in Jos North

Abstract

Introduction: Premarital sickle cell screening is a test done to screen intending couples to determine their genotype before marriage. It provides information about the health of the individuals while assessing their related reproductive risk.

Aim: This study aimed to assess the knowledge of adults on premarital sickle cell screening among unmarried residence of Naraguta village in Jos North, Plateau state.

Methodology: A descriptive research design was adopted, sample size of 306 adult residences was drawn from an estimated of 1500 through a proportional stratified sampling technique. Structured questionnaire was used to obtained the data and was analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: Findings or result revealed that most of the adult respondents (71%) had low knowledge about premarital sickle cell screening and (53%) and had negative attitude toward premarital sickle cell screening. Of the respondents (31%) of the adult unmarried are not intending to comply to the screening and stated their reasons to be that the screening is costly and is waste of time and resources. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between knowledge and attitude toward premarital sickle cell screening among the unmarried adult residence of Naraguta village. This indicates that knowledge about premarital sickle cell screening has a great impact in developing positive attitude toward sickle cell screening.

Conclusion: It was, therefore, concluded that the unmarried adult at the Naraguta village has low level and knowledge and negative attitude toward premarital sickle cell screening.