Self-concept in Relation to Inheritance Blood Diseases among Adolescents in Babylon Governorate-Iraq

Adolescence is considered a critical stage of life, thalassemic adolescents undergo changes in perception due to frequent blood transfusions, severe complications, absenteeism from school and their psychosocial problems. This study aimed to identify the level of self-concept and to find out the association between level of Self-concept and related factors in adolescents with thalassemia major aged 10–18 in Babylon Governorate Iraq. This is a descriptive cross sectional study which was conducted on non-probability purposive sample of 100 adolescents with thalassemia referring to therapeutic and blood transfusion center. The instrument used to assess self-concept was Piers-Harris self-concept questionnaire, the demographic data, clinical data and school history were obtained after gaining their verbal consents. The analysis was performed by using SPSS software version 21, Chi square test applied to assess the levels of associations between different variables. The mean of self-concept was low (M.S=1.43±SD=0.36) and also a significant association between self-concept domains except freedom from anxiety domain and absenteeism rate, and frequency of transfusion (p<0.05). The results revealed that there was low self concept level among thalassemic adolescents. Urgent psycho social intervention program is strongly requested to deal with this high priority public health problem.