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Experiment Background
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Sickle cell anemia is one of the most common hereditary diseases worldwide, which may affect any organ or system of the human body. According to WHO, about 5% of world’s population carries the gene responsible for haemoglobin disorders and about 300000 children are born worldwide with sickle cell disease every year. Sickle cell anemia is wide spread among tribal communities in India. In India the Sickle cell anemia was first detected in Veddoid tribe in Nilgiri hills of Tamilnadu, in 1952 by Lehman and Cutbush. It was later discovered in other states. The tribal population contributes 15% of the total population of Gujarat and distributed in various parts of the state. Tapi is tribal dominated district. A high prevalence of the sickle gene has been demonstrated in various tribal communities of Tapi including Gamit, Chaudhari, Konkani, Dhodia, Vasava, etc. The patient suffering from sickle cell anemia develops blood related complication and can be suspected due to family history or by conducting clinical examination. It re¬sults in an abnormality of the oxygen-carrying haemoglobin protein present in red blood cells. Sickle cell disease occurs when a person inherits two defective copies of each parent’s haemoglobin gene. An individual with a single abnormal copy usually has no symptoms and is said to have a Sickle-cell trait. These people are called carriers, too. There may be a number of health problems such as pain at¬tacks (sickle-cell crisis), anemia, bacterial infections and stroke. Sickle cell disease sufferers have also shortened lifespan and poor quality of life. So to combat against this hereditary disease we need to focus on this tribal population. Knowledge plays an important role for achieving desired results. Knowledge of any individual increases his/ her awareness. With this background, the present study was carried out to assess the knowledge of tribal women towards sickle cell anemia in Tapi district. |
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Research Methodology
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An Ex-post-facto research design was used for this study. Three blocks from Tapi district viz. Vyara, Dolvan and Songadh were selected for data collection. In the first year (2021-22), the data was collected from Dolvan block with 100 respondents. In second year (2022-23), the data was collected purposively from 100 tribal women of Vyara block who have positive sickle cell status (sickle cell trait or sickle cell disease) in age group of 18 years and above. The information of tribal women with positive sickle cell status was collected from ASHA workers and Health centre. The data was collected with the help of structured interview schedule and set of 13 questions of knowledge regarding sickle cell anemia were used. One score was given for each correct answer and zero was given for wrong answer or if no answer was given by tribal women. The data was analyzed with appropriate statistical tools such as frequency, percentage, correlation co-efficient and the level of knowledge was categorized into five categories using arbitrary method of classification viz, very low(0 to 20.00%), low(21.00 to 40.00%), medium(41.00 to 60.00%), high (61.00 to 80.00%) and very high(81.00%and above). The data from the remaining one selected block with 100 respondents will be completed in the third year. Thus, total of 300 tribal women who have positive sickle cell status will be selected purposively for this study.
Variables:
- Dependent variable: Knowledge about sickle cell anemia
- Independent variables: Age, Education, Marital status, Family type, Family size, Status of sickle cell anemia, Land holding, Occupation, Annual income of family, Social participation, Source of information, Medical consultancy
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