Awareness and Attitude Towards the Premarital Screening Programme Among High School Students in Muscat, Oman

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to explore high school students’ awareness and attitude towards premarital screening (PMS). Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 10 public high schools in Muscat, Oman from May to July 2016. A three-part self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from grade 12 students. The first part focused on respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics, while the second part dealt with awareness of the national PMS programme and the third part explored attitudes towards the national PMS programme. Results: A total of 1,541 participants (response rate: 91.1%) completed the questionnaire. Most participants (78.1%) were aware of the availability of the PMS programme and their main source of information was family and friends (34.3%). The majority of students (87.4%) believed that PMS is important and most students (87.2%) indicated that they would undergo PMS. Over half of the students (55.3%) agreed that PMS should be mandatory before marriage and approximately one-third (38.3%) were in favour of having laws and regulations to prevent consanguineous marriages. Females were significantly more in favour of making PMS mandatory (P = 0.002) and enforcing PMS laws (P = 0.010) compared to males. Conclusion: Most respondents had good levels of knowledge about the PMS programme and half thought it is important to be tested. However, some students were not in favour of PMS. Increasing awareness about Oman’s PMS programme is important and motivating students could contribute significantly to increasing the utilisation of the PMS programme and to limiting genetic blood disorders.Keywords: Awareness; Knowledge; Attitude; Secondary School; Students; Premarital Examinations; Genetic Carrier Screening; Oman.

Attitudes and impact among people with abnormal premarital screening test results in Muscat governorate’s primary healthcare centers in 2018

“…The majority believed that PMS is important (94.3%, n = 150) and agreed to take the test again if given the chance (84.9%, n = 135). This is a similar finding to what had been reported in previous studies in either Oman (Al Kindi et al 2012;Al-Kindi et al 2019) or others Arab countries such as Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia (Al-Kahtani 2000; Eshra et al 1989;Gharaibeh and Mater 2009). In addition, most of the participants reported that they would advise a future spouse to take PMS test before deciding to marry.…”

“…In general, health workers' advice plays a role in only 20% of participants. This percentage is fairly close to previous result in where healthcare service was a source of information for only 16.8% of participants (Al- Kindi et al 2019). This indicates that the healthcare services are not as efficient as expected in the PMS program and more effort is required in this regard.…”

“…Consanguineous marriage accounts for 38.4% of the total married participants in this study. Two studies conducted in 2011 and 2016 showed consanguineous marriages were reported by 36% and 39.6% respectively (Al- Kindi et al 2019), while the reported percentage in a previously published survey in 2003 was 58% (Al-Riyami and Ebrahim) and to exceed 50% in most of Arab countries (Al-Kahtani 2000). Limitations of this finding in our study were the small number of participants as well as the fact that the study was done only in the Muscat region where preservation of rural tribal communities is less common.…”

The Perception of Premarital Genetic Screening within Young Jordanian Individuals

“…A population study conducted in Saudi Arabia showed that 42% of the examined sample recommended the compulsory implementation of PGS. Another study from Saudi Arabia that was done on high school students showed that female subjects were more likely than male ones to support the laws, legislations, and regulations to prevent marriages of people whose PGS tests are positive [27]. There is always an ethical argument regarding reproductive decisions of at-risk individuals for genetic diseases, and it should be left for the individual to choose.…”

“…Therefore, creating a legal basis on which to prevent marriages may get in conflict with popular traditions and customs. Consequently, massive campaigns and legal support would be required to improve compliance with health-care team recommendations, especially for individuals with a family history of genetic disorders [27]. On the other hand, some couples might decide not to have children if PGS result is positive and prefer to proceed with their proposed marriage.…”