Abstract :
Introduction: Sickle-cell Disease (SCD) is a group of inherited red blood disorders. It is thought to
be prevalent by sickle cell disease among Tharus residing in the Western Terai part of Nepal.
Objectives: The study is to determine the knowledge and attitude on Sickle-cell disease among
selected higher secondary school students in Banke District, Nepal.
Methods and Materials: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted involving 290 higher
secondary students within Banke District who were selected by multistage cluster sampling
technique. The self-administered structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were
analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistics on SPSS version 20.
Results: A total of 290 students were included where around two third (60.7%) of respondents were
age group between 15-17 years and remaining 39.3% were between age group of 18-20 years.
More than half (56.9%) were male and one fourth (25.9%) were from Tharu community. Maximum
percentages (46.2%) had average knowledge regarding Sickle-cell disease and around one third
(35.9%) respondents had low knowledge with mean knowledge of 8.44±3.88 standard deviation.
Likewise, near to half (48.6%) respondents had negative attitude and just above the half (51.4%)
respondents had positive attitude towards Sickle-cell disease. There was significant association
between knowldege and attitude of respondents regarding Sickle-cell disease.
Conclusion: The knowledge of sickle-cell disease among maximum respondents was average. The
attitude towards sickle-cell was positive among just more than half respondents. There was
significant correlation between knowledge and attitude So, it is concluded that there is a need of
awareness programme to increase the knowledge level among respondents to develop positive
attitude towards sickle-cell disease.
Keyword :
Knowledge, Attitude, Sickle-cell Disease, Sickle-cell Trait, Higher Secondary Students