Sickle cell trait carriers are healthy; however, they are at risk to have children with sickle cell disease (SCD), a serious hematologic disorder. Unsuccessful population screening for sickle cell trait (SCT) has resulted in a large population of African American individuals entering childbearing age with no knowledge of their risk. Recent experience with newborn screening follow-up of hemoglobinopathies has shown that interest in genetic screening for SCT is low. This study aims to understand and increase the level of acceptance of genetic screening among the African American population through a program of education and assessment of the current state of SCD cultural health beliefs. This is important for Public Health because SCD is the most common genetic disorder affecting the African American community and education to promote screening must be sensitive to the cultural beliefs of the community.
Utilizing a method of anonymous surveys given to female African American patients within a busy prenatal clinic the effect of education of SCD on the acceptance of genetic screening for SCT has been assessed. The Health Belief Model was used to assess the current state of health beliefs regarding SCD and trait testing through anonymous surveys.
This study revealed that a brief educational intervention regarding SCD in a prenatal setting is effective in significantly increasing knowledge of SCD and acceptance of screening for SCT (p-value < 0.001). African American women of childbearing age have a high perception of severity of SCD, a low perception of susceptibility to SCD, a high perception of benefit to SCT testing and a low perception of barriers to testing for SCT.
Education within a prenatal setting can be used as a model to increase acceptance of screening for SCT. A high level of knowledge of SCD is associated with a high level of acceptance; however, the Health Belief Model revealed that currently the majority of the participants do not feel that they are personally at risk to have a child with SCD, regardless of SCD knowledge. Future education of SCD must take into account these beliefs in order to effectively motivate interest in SCT testing.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04052006-143922 |
| Date | 01 June 2006 |
| Creators | Gustafson, Shanna L |
| Contributors | Lakshmanan Krishnamurti, MD, James Butler, DrPH, Elizabeth Gettig, M.S., CGC |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04052006-143922/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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