Attitude and Knowledge of Couple About Thalassemmia at the Stage of Marriage in Babol

ABSTRACT Thalassemia is a genetic hemoglobinopaty. The attitude and knowledge of couple at the stage of marriage has an important role in prevention of that. The objective of this study was to determine the attitude and knowledge of couple at stage of marriage in relation to the necessary of consulting program, prevention and the nature of thalassemia in Babol. A cross-sectional study of 268 couples (536 subjects) at the stage of marriage was conducted in consulting center of thalassemia in Amirkola-Babol in 2000. The data was collected with interviewing of the couple using a questionaire. In the statistical anlysis, chisquare test was used. The findings show that 80.7% of men and 86.2% of women at the stage of marriage know thalassemia. The most source of their information (64%) was radio and television. The most of subject (85.5% of men and 83.6% of women) have a positive attitude with respect to the necessary of consulting before marriage. In general, there is no significant difference between the knowledge of men and women (P>0.05) but the rate of knowledge and positive attitude with respect to the prevention of thalassemia was significantly increased in urban area and higher levels of education (P<0.01). The results indicates that the attitude and knowledge of couple about prevention of Thalassemia was increased in the recent years using communication systems. The more extensive education program with continuing is necessary for promotion of prevention of thalassemia.