Knowledge and Attitudes of Secondary Schools ‎students Towards Premarital Screening and Counseling in Taiz, Yemen

Saleh Zaghir Mohammed Alhetar,1 Soheir Ibrahim Sobhy,2 Fatma Mohamed Nasr El-Din Shuaib,2 Sameer A Alkubati,3,4 Mohamed A Zoromba,5,6 Heba E El-Gazar,7 Mahmoud Al-Areefi,8 Talal Ali Hussein Alqalah,3 Mohamed Awad Elkarim Mohamed Ibrahim,9 Duria Hassan Merghani Mohamed,10 Waled AM Ahmed11,12 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecologic Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, and Health Sciences-‎Nursing Department- Taiz University, Taiz, Yemen; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecologic Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt; 3Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, College of Nursing, University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Hodeidah University, Hodeida, Yemen; 5College of Nursing, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia; 6Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt; 7Nursing Administration Department, Faculty of Nursing, Port Said University, Port Said, Egypt; 8Faculty of Public Health and Health Informatics, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia; 9Public Health Department, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Al-Baha University, Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia; 10Adult Nursing and Advanced Nursing Care Department, College of Nursing, King Khalid University, Muhail Aseer, Saudi Arabia; 11Community Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Al-Baha University, Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia; 12Community Medicine Department, Postgraduate Studies, Al-Saeeda University, Sanaa, YemenCorrespondence: Saleh Zaghir Mohammed Alhetar, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecologic Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, and Health Sciences-‎Nursing Department- Taiz University, Taiz, Yemen, Email [email protected] Waled AM Ahmed, Community Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Al-Baha University, Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia, Email [email protected]: Premarital screening and counseling (PMCS) is a preventive measure for genetic, infectious, and blood-transmitted diseases. This study aimed to assess secondary school students’ knowledge of and attitudes towards PMCS in Taiz City, Yemen.Methods: This study included 306 secondary school students selected through stratified random sampling from six secondary schools representing three directorates in Taiz city, Yemen. Researchers used two validated tools, students’ knowledge and attitudes about the PMCS which were adopted from previous studies, to collect the necessary data. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software. Descriptive analysis was conducted for frequencies and percentages while chi square test was used to identify the relationships between the demographics and knowledge level.Results: Most of the students had a weak knowledge of 58.82%, while 40.52% showed fair understanding. The majority of students (79.09%) displayed a positive attitude towards PMCS, among the students with a positive attitude, 36.93% had fair knowledge, whereas 41.5% of the students had weak knowledge.Conclusion: The study concluded that secondary school students in Taiz lack knowledge and have positive attitudes towards various aspects of premarital screening and counseling. Knowledge deficits were linked to male students, younger academic years, non-engagement, and family history of disease.Keywords: knowledge, attitude, premarital counseling, Yemen, school students