Psycho-social problems of adolescents with sickle-cell anaemia in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Sickle-cell disease comprises a group of genetic disorders characterized by the inheritance of sickle haemoglobin from both parents. Sickle-cell disease carries a huge psycho-social burden which has impacts on the physical, psychological, social and occupational well-being as well as levels of independence on adolescents.

To investigate the psycho-social problems of adolescents with sickle-cell anaemia in Ekiti State. The study also examined whether the variables of age and educational level would influence the psycho-social problems of adolescents with sickle-cell anaemia in Ekiti State.

Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to draw a total of 121 respondents. A questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. Mean and rank order was used to answer the research question while Analysis of Variance was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.

Findings revealed that psycho-social problems of adolescents with sickle-cell anaemia are limited in the choice of career, find it difficult to get suitable partner in marriage and SCD adolescents usually manifest emotional upset, misbehaviour, and have learning problems. Findings also revealed that there were significant differences in the psycho-social problems of adolescents with sickle-cell anaemia based on age and educational level.

Majority of the respondents attested to the psycho-social problems facing adolescents with sickle-cell anaemia. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that social workers should be employed in health sectors; government should offered standard health care for all adolescents with sickle cell disease.