Awareness of the Thalassemic Patients’ Parents toward Thalassemia in Kirkuk City

Background and objectives:- Thalassemia is a blood disorder passed down through families (inherited) in which the body makes an abnormal form of hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. The disorder results in excessive destruction of red blood cells, which leads to anemia. Hemoglobin is made of two proteins: Alpha globin and beta globin. Thalassemia occurs when there is a defect in a gene that helps control production of one of these proteins. There are two main types of thalassemia Alpha thalassemia occurs when a gene or genes related to the alpha globin protein are missing or changed (mutated) ,it’s occur most commonly in persons from southeast Asia, the Middle East, China, and in those of African descent. .Beta thalassemia occurs when similar gene defects affect production of the beta globin protein and it’s occur in persons of Mediterranean origin, and to a lesser extent, Chinese, other Asians, and African Americans. There are many forms of thalassemia. Each type has many different subtypes. Both alpha and beta thalassemia include the following two forms the first is Thalassemia major(Cooley's anemia ) while the second is Thalassemia minor patients must inherit the defective gene from both parents to develop thalassemia major while Thalassemia minor occurs if the patients receive the defective gene from only one parent. Persons with this form of the disorder are carriers of the disease and usually do not have symptoms (DeBaun, MR et al. 2011 ). This study aims to assess the thalassemic children’s parents awareness toward thalassemia. Materials and method: a Descriptive study have been carried out in Kirkuk Governorate / Al-Azadi teaching hospital ,which the nursing and medical care are provide to thalassemic children from September / 2012 to august 2013 . Results: The results of the study showed that Most of the sample is female in age (30 and more) years old. Most of the samples’ (56%) level of education is read and write while only 6% have bachelor degree .The result indicated that most of the sample (60%) have three or more children in their family in addition most of them(72%) have only one child incidence by thalassemia, while only (2%) of them have three child with incidence of thalassemia. the study indicated that the parents have high rates (66%),(64%)(90%),(72%) of acceptable level in knowledge related to definition, singes and symptoms, the transmission method and classification of thalassemia to alpha and beta. The fi