Eesha Yaqoob

Conference 2022 Poster Presentation

 

Project title

“Does my teacher know anything about my disease?”: A cross sectional study to assess the awareness level of hemophilia among teachers in Pakistan

 

Authors and Affiliations

Eesha Yaqoob1, Naimatullah Hashmi1, Saad Javed2

1. Department of Sociology, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
2. Department of Neurosurgery, Rawalpindi Medical University Rawalpindi, Pakistan

 

Abstract

Background

It is an uncommon coagulation illness that few people are aware of. Teachers who work with patients with hemophilia (PWH) play an important role in assisting school going hemophiliacs. There have been few studies on the disease’s knowledge among hemophiliacs’ teachers.

Methods

We used a closed questionnaire to conduct a cross-sectional study on hemophilia knowledge. Teachers of hemophiliacs’ students in Faisalabad took part in the study. A Cronbach’s alpha was used to validate the questionnaire (a= 0.775).

Results

We requested the help of 12 schools with school going hemophiliacs, but only 9 of them took part. A total of 111 teachers took part in this research. About 86.48 percent of the participants were female, while 13.52% were male. High school teachers accounted for 45.94 percent, middle school teachers for 24.32 percent, and preschool teachers for 29.74 percent. Furthermore, 33.20 percent of the participants had no understanding of hemophilia, 14.50 percent had a low level of information, 35 percent had a fair level of knowledge, and 17.30 percent had a high level of knowledge. Teachers in high school were the most knowledgeable about hemophilia (11.7 %). Five athletic teachers, two of whom had no awareness about hemophilia.

Conclusions

A large proportion of teachers at school going hemophiliacs had little or no understanding of hemophilia, and just a few teachers knew about the disease. As a result, more educational initiatives are needed to raise critical awareness.