Attitude and Awareness amongst Secondary School Students of Sexually Transmitted Infections in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area, Rivers State
D. Lawson *
Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
John, W. Dike
Department of Educational and Curriculum Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Bob-Manuel, Mienye
1Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Somiari, Abiye
Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Introduction: The study investigated the attitude and awareness amongst secondary school students of sexually transmitted infections in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers state.
Methodology: Three research questions were formulated to guide the study, with a target population of 350 from fifteen schools and sample size of 70 students, drawn through disproportionate random sampling technique. The Sexually Transmitted Infection Evaluator (STIE) questionnaire was employed to gather data from the respondents. The instrument was validated by two experts in Measurement and Evaluation, while reliability of the instrument was determined through test-retest method to obtain a coefficient of 0.90 index. The research questions were analyzed using mean value.
Results: The attitude of students towards sexually transmitted infections is negative and the awareness level is still poor.
Conclusion: Based on the findings it was recommended that sex education should be taught in all schools and teachers should come up with modalities of improving sexuality education in schools to ensure students awareness of sexually transmitted infections.
Keywords: Attitude, awareness, sexually transmitted infections, secondary school students, Akuku-Toru.