title: Race and social attitudes about sickle cell disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Sickle cell disease is perhaps the most racialized condition in the history of modern medicine, yet very little research has focused on how racial perceptions influence social attitudes about the disease. Subsequently, the implications of these perceptions for public health prevention efforts and the provision of clinical care are not well known.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this brief commentary, we posit that social cognitive and media framing theories provide useful approaches for assessing relations between race and social attitudes about sickle cell disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Such inquiries might lead to more rigorous study of mechanisms that shape perceptions about sickle cell risk, interpersonal empathy toward patients, and public support for sickle cell-related policies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD, USA. bediako@umbc.edu
authors.forename: Shawn M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Bediako
authors.forename: Kimberly R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Moffitt
mesh_terms: D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health; D011639:Public Opinion; D044469:Racial Groups; D040241:Social Marketing