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Volume 27, Issue 133, March 2023

Knowledge, attitudes and practices of parents of children with sickle cell disease towards vaso occlusive crisis in Tabuk area, Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

Sawsan Mohammed Al Blewi¹, Ziad Saleh D Albalwi^2♦, Abdullah I Altidlawi², Lena Defallah G Alzahrani³, Rawan Defallah G Alzahrani⁴, Laila Abdullah S Al-Anazi², Mohand Basher Gahesh Albalawi², Abdulrahman Arshed N Alharfy², Naif Mohammed Al-Balawi⁵, Ehab Hanafy⁶, Yassmeen Hmoud Suliman Alblowi⁷, Khaled Abdullah S Alasmari³, Amal Abdullah Ayed Albalwi³

¹Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Tabuk University, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
²Medical Intern, Tabuk University, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
³Medical Student, Tabuk University, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
⁴Pediatric Neurology Resident, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
⁵Consultant Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, King Salman Armed Forces Hospital, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
⁶Registrar of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, King Salman Armed Forces Hospital, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
⁷General Practitioner, King Khalid Hospital, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Medical Intern, Tabuk University, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Our objective is to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of parents of children with sickle cell disease (SCD) towards vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC). Cross-sectional study, administered to patients following up in King Salman Armed Forces Hospital (KSAFH), Saudi Arabia. The study included 134 participants. Data analysis performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Regarding assessment of the participant’s knowledge only 0.9% had a low knowledge level, 54.3% had a moderate level and 44.7% had a high level. Evaluation of the participants' practices, 7% had a low level and 77.2% had a high-level practice. Participant’s attitudes level toward the VOC was good in 97.4% of participants, while 2.6% had a poor attitude. There was a good level of general knowledge among parents of SCD patients. However, their knowledge about the role of vaccines and hospital admission was inadequate. The adequate knowledge of the parents was transformed into good practices, where the highest percentage of the participants had high practices and attitude scores. We recommend establishing more education meetings with parents as this is the preferred source of information by the parents.

Keywords: Sickle, Cell, Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices