Knowledge,attitude and practices (KAP) of the families of β-thalassaemia children in thalassaemia centers of rawalpindi and Islamabad,Pakistan

The present study was designed to assess the knowledge,attitude and practices (kap) of the parents of β-thalassaemia children (410) selected from public (73.2%) and private (26.8%) thalassaemia centers of rawalpindi-islamabad. qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to collect the data,which was analyzed by using spss. majority of the respondents (70%) were rural young parents with no knowledge of thalassaemia before marriage. however,now 81.2% were aware about this. majority of the respondents (89%) had the knowledge about premarital screening,86.1% were opposed to intermarriages of carrier and 57% believed that if carrier got married then prenatal diagnosis or chorionic villus sampling test is necessary. about 76.8% of the couples were screened and 42.2% had an experience of chorionic villus sampling among which 20% abortions were reported. overall 82% parents had received genetic counselling. the present study suggests that parent's regular visits and genetic counseling at thalassaemia centers have played important role about awareness. © 2017,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.