Active-Duty U.S. Army Soldiers’ Awareness and Opinions of Mandatory Sickle Cell Trait Screening
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Authors
Castellani, Colleen
Issue Date
2024-05-01
Type
thesis_closed
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Keywords
Sickle cell trait , carrier testing , attitudes , military , genetic counseling , Genetics
Medical Genetics
Alternative Title
Human Genetics Theses
Abstract
The U.S. Army’s sickle cell trait (SCT) screening program, as mandated by the DHA and DOD, aims to protect Soldiers from exertional SCT-related events, given the increased risk for heat injury, rhabdomyolysis, and death associated with SCT. However, whether Soldiers are knowledgeable of and/or support the Army’s mandatory SCT screening program remains unknown. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the awareness and opinions of Soldiers regarding the Army’s SCT testing program. An anonymous online survey evaluating Soldiers’ demographics, general genetics and SCT knowledge, and familiarity with and support for the mandatory SCT screening program collected responses from active-duty Army Soldiers from October 2023 through February 2024. Of the 42 responses analyzed, the majority of participants (52.4%) were not aware of receiving SCT testing by the Army. Despite this lack of awareness, the majority (52.4%) of participants supported mandatory SCT testing for all Soldiers regardless of MOS or race/ethnicity, and participants with higher genetic knowledge scores were more likely to support broad testing (p
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