Increasing Educational Attainment in Adolescents with Sickle Cell Disease

Adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD), a chronic condition primarily impacting African Americans, experience challenges graduating high school. Understanding demographic, educational, and community-level correlates of disease is critical to creating effective interventions for these youths. This study aimed to examine 1) educational attainment for adolescents with SCD, 2) neighborhood correlates of their education, and 3) feasibility of a pilot to increase General Education Diploma (GED) class enrollment. Findings suggest demographic characteristics influence educational attainment. Improving educational attainment in adolescents with SCD requires understanding risk beyond disease severity. Identifying risk and protective neighborhood-level factors can inform interventions to improve educational attainment. Feasibility of programming to increase GED enrollment should be further investigated.