摘要：Sickle Cell Disorders (SCD) are among the leading genetic disorders in the world and Nigeria is one of the countries with high prevalence. Given that affected children spend a significant part of their life time in schools, it is important to understand the attitude of people who work in schools towards children with SCD. The current study focuses on trainee teachers. We aimed to identify the predictors of stigmatising attitudes towards SCD in this group in Nigeria. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was carried out among 220 trainee teachers. Participants responded to items assessing Social Distance (as measure of stigmatization), Perceived Family Attitudes towards SCD, Positive Attributions towards peers with SCD, knowledge about SCD, Familiarity with the disease and socio-demographical variables. A significant proportion of trainee teachers endorsed negative attitudes towards peers with SCD. For example, only 24% thought most of their fellow students would invite an affected peer to their birthday party and only 32% thought most trainee teachers would like to study together with a peer with SCD. Regarding knowledge about the disease, 19% thought SCD is caused by evil spirits, 27% thought it can be cured by spiritual healers, and another 27% believed it can be caused by bad food. Hierarchical regression demonstrated that male gender (β =.72, p = 0.01), and perceived negative Family Attitude towards SCD (β = .19, p = 0.004) significantly predicted Social Distance. The regression model explained 8.6% of the variance in Social Distance. This first study of trainee teachers’ attitudes towards peers with SCD suggests a need for anti-stigma educational programmes for trainee teachers in this part of Africa. Such programmes could include emphasis on family-focused interventions.
关键词：Stigmatization; sickle cell disorders; Social Distance; Family Attitudes; Nigeria
