PSYCHOLOGY IMPACT OF LIVING WITH SICKLE CELL ANAEMIA

PSYCHOLOGY IMPACT OF LIVING WITH SICKLE CELL ANAEMIA

ABSTRACT

This study sought the psychology impact of living with sickle cell anaemia, a study of Babcock University, Illishan Remo, Ogun State. The study adopted a descriptive survey design in conjunction with the convenience sampling technique to randomly select 100 students from all departments in the study area. Data collection was done through the use and administration of a questionnaire. The data generated were analyzed using simple percentage and frequency count with the aid of the software SPSS version 20 and the linear regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses at .05 significance level. The results indicated there are psychological assaults on students living with sickle cell anemia in Babcock University. In this light, the study advised that more attention should be given to the sickle cell anaemia students in Babcock university and a sickle cell anaemia student who is not academically inclined and assaulted might do better if he is assessed by psychological counselor and doctor regularly.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0        Introduction

The problem of sickle cell anaemia is in different faces. In this work we are looking at the social aspect of the sickle cell anaemia or the psychological assault of people living with sickle cell anaemia. People does not see them as normal, majority of the people see people with sickle cell anaemia  as a  working corpse that can die at any time.

1.1       Background of study

The condition of having sickle cell disease will be defined as occurring in one or the other of the two following states: (1) sickle cell anemia-a severe, uncorrectable, and often fatal anemia with many clinical manifestations, and (2) sickle cell trait–a relatively benign condition with symptomatology occurring only under extraordinary circumstances.

Hemoglobin functions as the oxygen carrying substance of the blood, and is responsible for the pigmentation of the erythrocytes or red blood cells. The condition of sickle cell anemia results from the presence of an abnormal hemoglobin, known as Hb-S, in the erythrocytes. The presence of this hemoglobin is hypothesized to have been an asset in protecting· its bearer from the effects of malaria in those countries where the occurrence of malaria is common. In 1964, A. C. Allison (Levitan and Montagu 1971), proposed, that the· heterpgygote AS was less susceptible· than the normal homozygotes to Falciparum malaria, an often fatal· malaria constantly reinfecting its victims with severe and prolonged disease.

However, for that segment of the population carry in the abnormal hemoglobins, but residing in no malaria environments, the advantage of hemoglobin S disappears.

In the United States, sickle cell anemia is found predominantly Wintrobe (1967), the “frequency of occurrence of sickle cell trait is 8.5 per cent of the black population. Approximately one out of four hundred blacks (National Sickle Cell Prevention Act, 1971) experiences the anemia itself. The incidence of the disease in other races is quite rare, and when it does occur in members of other races, it is usually experienced by persons of Greek, Italian, East Indian, South American and Middle Eastern origins.

PSYCHOLOGY IMPACT OF LIVING WITH SICKLE CELL ANAEMIA