title: Impact of psychosocial status and disease knowledge on deferoxamine adherence among thalassaemia major adolescents.
abstract: This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the relationship between psychosocial status, disease knowledge and adherence to deferoxamine treatment in adolescents with thalassaemia major. A purposive sample of 36 adolescents with transfusion dependence, ages 12-19 years, was recruited. A semi-structured interview and two structured questionnaires were used. In this sample, 56% were low adherence and 36% were psychologically impaired. Statistically significant factors associated with psychological impairment were: adolescents more than 16 years; low deferoxamine adherence; mean ferritin more than 2500 μg/L; family size more than six; family income equal or less than 350 Jordanian dinar and having sibling with thalassaemia. Additionally, adolescents with high level of knowledge had significantly lower scores on Pediatric Symptom Checklist.
authors.affiliation: Maternal, Child and Family Health Department, The Faculty of Nursing, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan.
authors.forename: Manal Ibrahim
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Al-Kloub
authors.forename: Taghreed Nayel
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Salameh
authors.forename: Erika Sivarajan
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Froelicher
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003676:Deferoxamine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance; D013789:Thalassemia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology
chemical_list: D003676:Deferoxamine
keywords: adherence; adolescents; deferoxamine; knowledge; psychosocial