Effect of health education on knowledge, attitude and uptake of voluntary counselling and testing among Corps Members in Osun State, Nigeria.
Date
2014
Authors
Amu, E.O.
Olatona, F.A.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Scientific Academic Publishing
Abstract
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection remains a significant public health problem especially in Nigeria where knowledge about HIV and Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) is low and attitude to VCT and its uptake is poor. This study determined the effect of health education programme on the knowledge and attitudes to HIV and VCT and VCT uptake among unmarried National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in Osun State, Nigeria. It was a quasi-experimental study. Multistage sampling technique was used to determine 155 respondents in the intervention and 165 in the control groups. Baseline information was followed by health education programme on HIV and VCT for the intervention group. VCT services were provided weekly for three consecutive months for both groups. Three months later, post intervention data using the same questionnaire was collected from both groups. At baseline, there was no difference between the intervention and control groups in the proportion of respondents who had good level of knowledge of HIV (0.060); good knowledge of VCT (0.390), positive attitude to VCT (0.359) and uptake of VCT (0.618). Post-intervention, however, the proportion of respondents with these characteristic increased significantly only in the intervention group: good level of knowledge of HIV (p< 0.001); good level of knowledge of VCT (p< 001); positive attitude to VCT (p< 0.001) and VCT uptake (p< 0.001). There were also significant differences between the intervention and control groups in the proportion of respondents with each of these characteristics (p <0.001). Health education of youth corps members was significantly effective in improving their level of knowledge about HIV and VCT, attitude to VCT and VCT uptake. On-going health education and VCT services should be made available to corps members throughout their one year of compulsory service to the nation.
Description
Staff publications
Keywords
Health Education , Intervention , Uptake of VCT , Attitude to VCT , VCT knowledge , Research Subject Categories::MEDICINE
Citation
Amu. E.O. and Olatona, F.A. Effect of health education on knowledge, attitude and uptake of voluntary counselling and testing among Corps Members in Osun State, Nigeria. Public Health Research. 2014; 2: 51-61.