Abstract:
Background: Thalassemia is considered as the commonest single gene disorder in Sri Lanka.
Nevertheless, poor awareness regarding the screening tests is one of the major combative factors
that could lead to Thalassemia by Thalassemia carriers who have unsafe marriages. In order to
establish effective preventive strategies, it is essential to identify the existing knowledge gap at
community level. As future health care professionals, Allied Health Science undergraduates
should have significant role and responsibility to contribute for preventing recognized health
burden diseases among community.
Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitudes on Thalassemia and Premarital Screening
(PMS) tests among the students of Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya.
Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Faculty of Allied
Health Sciences. This study included 213 students selected using the stratified random sampling
technique. A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The
questionnaire included demographic data, knowledge towards thalassemia and PMS.
Results: The findings revealed that majority of participants (n= 184, 86.38%) have heard about
the aetiology of Thalassemia, with a mean knowledge score of one out of 15 questions (n= 121,
56.76%). Out of total participants, 55.4% had never heard about PMS tests. When consider
about the attitude level, 72.3% had positive attitudes towards prevention of Thalassemia while
98.1% had positive attitudes towards facing to PMS. Based on the findings, overall knowledge
towards Thalassemia and PMS is at good level and attitudes regarding the above r areas are at
positive or favourable level.
Conclusions: To confirm the observations, large scale studies need to be conducted comprising
of different study populations. Increasing emphasis on thalassemia in the undergraduate
curriculum might improve budding student‟s knowledge and attitudes about Thalassemia.