College students’ attitudes toward people with sickle cell disorders

Abstract

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a serious hereditary blood disorder affecting millions of people around the world. Approximately 100,000 people have SCD and two and a half million have Sickle Cell Trait (SCT) in the United States. However, the literature on attitudes toward people with SCD is limited. The purpose of this study was to assess college student’s attitudes toward people with SCD disorders. The sample included 416 college students at a North Texas university. A descriptive, cross sectional research approach using a modified version of the Behavior toward SCD Scale was used in this study. The majority (78%) of the participants believed that everyone should know their carrier status however; only 26% indicated that they knew their carrier status at the time. Findings suggest that participants had positive attitudes toward people with SCD overall. The majority of participants indicated that they would be friends (86%), date (62%), or marry (49%) someone if they had SCD. Results support the need for improved knowledge of carrier status of both partners and the reproductive implications associated with being carriers.