Knowledge and attitude of University of The Gambia, Management Development Institution, Gambia Techical Training Institution and the Gambia College Students towards sickle celled disease in the Gambia

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the association between Knowledge and attitude of students towards sickled celled disease.
Design: A cross sectional descriptive
Setting: Student attending face to face lectures in the various campus
Subject or participants: Students attending The University of The Gambia (UTG), Management Development Institute (MDI), The Gambia College and The Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI).
Interventions: one to one interview
Data analysis: Data was analyze using Statistical Package for Social Science version 22 and p-value≤0.05
Main outcome measures: knowledge on SCD, transmission and attitude to the disease
Result and conclusion: This survey show that, students from UTG had the most understanding of SCD (78%) followed by students from MDI (75.5%) while students from GTTI (56%) had the least knowledge of SCD. The Chi square result also demonstrates that practically all of the variables on SCD knowledge had a high level of statistical significance. There was a strong correlation between students from the various institutions in this study and the variable questions on attitude but there was also no statistical significance with students’ attitude towards SCD. The survey revealed that the majority of students enrolled in Tertiary Institutions in The Gambia have heard about SCD, they have good attitude and belief of SCD. However, a few of them have poor Knowledge and attitude towards SCD. Half of the students indicated that they had learned about SCD in schools.