KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION OF PREMARITAL GENETIC COUNSELING TOWARDS SICKLE CELL DISEASE AMONG STUDENTS OF COLLEGE OF HEALTH TECHNOLOGY, AKURE

Premarital genetic counseling has been one of the strongest ways to prevent hereditary diseases, congenital abnormalities and genetic disorders. This study assessed the knowledge and perception of Premarital Genetic Counselling towards sickle cell disease among College of Health Technology, Akure. Three research questions and two hypotheses were raised and tested. Furthermore, descriptive cross-sectional research design was used with 116 respondents expected to fill out a well-structured and organized online Google format questionnaire, which only 107 respondents’ properly filled out. The sampling technique used for the study was purposive sampling technique. Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) was utilized to analyze the data. The validated questionnaire was administered to respondents and data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics while Pearson’s Chi-square was used for hypothesis testing. The findings of this study shows that majority of the respondents (99.1%) have knowledge about Sickle Cell Disease, also majority (99.1%) have heard about Premarital Genetic Counselling while average number (57.9%) of the respondents agreed that Premarital Genetic Counselling is one of the ways to prevent Sickle Cell Disease. This study shows that the respondents have a high level of knowledge of Sickle cell disease and Premarital counselling which shows that they are likely to go for premarital genetic counselling: but might not possibly concur to the advice of a genetic counsellor if results show incompatibility as only(45.8%) affirmed that they will leave their relationship if incompatible. It was recommended that health education as regards premarital genetic counselling should be more incorporated and discussed as part of issues relating to reproductive health.