Caregivers’ Competence On Prevention Of Sickle Cell Complications Among Children Attending Clinics In Dodoma Region: A Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT

Background: Sickle cell disease is a blood disorder which has become very common today. Tanzania is fourth in the world with the highest Sickle cell disease birth rates (Piel et al., 2013). Between 7800 and 11,000 children with Sickle cell disease are born in Tanzania every year (Makani et al., 2018). Despite all the efforts, there is an increasing number of hospital admissions of children with sickle cell disease complications, and it is not known if caregivers have competence on prevention of sickle cell disease complications. This study aimed to assess caregivers‟ competence in the prevention of sickle cell complications among children attending SCD clinics in Dodoma region. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was done involving 385 caregivers with SCD children in Dodoma region. A simple random sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. Data were obtained through semi-structured questionnaires and documentary review. SPSS version 25 was used for data analysis. Chi-square test was used to determine relationship between variables and variables with p-value of