Assessment of the knowledge, awareness and attitudes of primary care physicians about spinal muscular atrophy (sma)

Assessment of the knowledge, awareness and attitudes of primary care physicians about Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Dr. Fatih Rüstem SARIYERLİ, Thesis in Medicine, Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University Family of Medicine Department, February 2023 Objectives: Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), which was included in the routine premarital carrier screening in December 2021, is a disease that cannot be completely cured, but can be prevented by detecting its carrier and genetic counseling to be given. Considering the premarital carrier screenings are mostly performed in primary care, our goal is to try to contribute to public health by determining the knowledge, awareness and attitude levels of family physician about SMA, which is added to the routine program. Methods: The participants consisted of 101 family physician providing Primary Health Care services in Bolu. Survey questions prepared by the researcher were filled in to the participants in order to determine their demographic information, knowledge, awareness and attitude levels. Results: Of the 101 respondents participating in the study, 30 were female (29.7%) and 71 were male (70.3%). there were 26 participants (25.7%) between the ages of 25-30 years, 39 participants (38.6%) between the ages of 31 and 40 years, 36 participants (35.6%) aged 41 and over. the mean age was 37.6±8.35 years. Considering that the average level of knowledge is 3.06, the average level of awareness is 4.26, the average level of attitude is 5.61, the knowledge levels of the participants were found to be insufficient, and the awareness and attitude levels were found to be quite sufficient. Conclusion: Of the 101 participants, 40 were found to be successful in terms of knowledge, 73 were found to be successful in terms of awareness, and 94 were found to be successful in terms of attitude. At this point, it may be considered risky for the lack of information to turn to the right attitude. In order to eliminate this risk, possible erroneous attitudes will be prevented with the training to be provided immediately. The awareness and attitude levels of the participants were found to be quite sufficient. However, although it is not a problem for SMA at the moment that it cannot state for sure whether this is due to information, in order to prevent awareness and attitude from turning into erroneous behavior, SMA-related education should definitely be provided in order to increase SMA knowledge levels and keep them fresh. KEYWORDS: Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Carrier Screening, Premarital Screening, Genetic Counseling