Preconception care counselling among women with sickle cell anaemia in the south of Iran: a qualitative study based on social marketing model

Abstract

Pregnancy in women afflicted with sickle cell anaemia has certain adverse effects. The present research aimed to promote the quality of preconception care counselling programs. To do this, Hormozgan Province recruited 25 diseased women and five key informants. To acquire the necessary information, in-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken. Graneheim's directions for guided content analysis were followed while analysing the data. The results were reported in four categories based on the social marketing constructs. Provision of sickle cell services and preconception care counselling were suggested. The participants preferred to be interviewed in comprehensive healthcare centres in their neighbourhood. The high cost of the lab and medical services was raised as an issue. Face-to-face communication together with other care services was suggested. Providing consultation services in nearby places as in the neighbourhood, including local comprehensive care centres, face-to-face interventions, and mass media, can effectively promote preconception care counselling participation.

IMPACT STATEMENT

• What is already known on this subject? The high rate of maternal mortality in women afflicted with sickle cell disease in the south of Iran has attracted growing attention to preconception care counselling in these women. It seems that the social marketing model, due to its audience-based nature, is effective in the acceptance of participatory behaviour in preconception care counselling. To the best of the present researchers’ knowledge, there is no similar research in this respect in Iran.

• What do the results of this study add? Participants’ discourse analysis has led to the recognition of the social marketing constituent elements in participation in Preconception care counselling. In their accounts, the participants drew attention to ‘Provision of sickle cell services’ and ‘Provision of Preconception care counseling for sickle cell disease’ in their accounts. The participants also mentioned personal, organisational, and sociocultural barriers to the rate of participation. The optimal place was determined for the consultation, and the means of communication were also decided on for implementing the program.

• What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? Policy-makers and programmers can use the present findings to guide the design and implementation of interventional programs to promote participation in Preconception care counselling for women who have sickle cell disease.

Keywords:

• Sickle cell disease
• sickle cell trait
• preconception care counselling
• social marketing
• qualitative research

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences for financial support. The authors also wish to express their thanks to the women afflicted with sickle cell disease and the key informants who participated in this study.

Ethical approval

The committee approved this study of ethics in research in Hormozgan University of medical sciences with the code of (IR.HUMS.REC.1398.486). Informed consent was obtained from participants in this study.

Author contributions

T.A. conceptualised and designed the project. A.P. obtained the research funding. A.P. worked on data analyses. All authors met regularly to discuss the transcript data, coding concepts and development of the themes. T.A., Z.H., and N.R. edited the manuscript. All authors gave final approval for the manuscript to be published.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Data availability statement

The data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by a research grant from Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences (HUMS: 980468). The funding body had no role in the research process.