Fig. 2.
Structural equation model of the effect of beliefs about sickle cell disease on the association between preventive strategies and relationship choices for an exploratory study at University of Cape Coast from 2nd February to 22nd December 2022. “r” is the latent variable measuring relationship choices; “b” is the latent variable measuring belief systems held by participants; “p” is latent variable measuring participants’ knowledge about SCD prevention strategies. The arrows shown are only significant associations with respective standardized parameter estimates, STDYX. Constructs in questionnaire items Q11, Q12 and Q13 were used to solicit participants beliefs about SCD, SCD prevention and impact of SCD on relationship choices respectively (Supplementary file S1). Model fit parameters were: [Estimator: ML (Maximum likelihood); Chi-Square Test of Model Fit (426.901; DF: 116, p-value = 0.000; RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) = 0.083; 90% C.I.: 0.075–0.092; Comparative fit index (CFI): 0.758; and Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR): 0.073]