Awareness and Practicing of Preventive Measures of Sexually Transmitted Diseases among Senior Secondary School Students in Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined awareness and practicing of preventive measures of sexually transmitted diseases among senior secondary school students in Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria. Four objectives and four research questions guided the study.  Four null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 levels of significance. Hypothesis one (1) and two (2) measured difference in the awareness and practicing of preventive measures of sexually transmitted diseases on the basis of gender. While hypotheses three (3) and four (4) measured difference in the awareness and practicing of preventive measures of sexually transmitted diseases on the basis of age. Survey design was adopted in this study.  The population of this study comprised of four thousand, seven hundred and twelve (4,712) senior secondary school students. A total number of three hundred and sixty two (362) were selected as sample for the study. Students’ Awareness and Preventive Measures of Sexually Transmited Diseases Questionnaire (SAPMSTDQ) was use for the collection of data for the study. The data collected were analyzed using independent sample t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The finding of hypothesis one revealed that there is no significant difference between male and female senior secondary school students in the awareness level of sexually transmitted diseases in Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State. The finding of hypothesis two indicated that there is no significant difference between male and female senior secondary school students in the practicing of preventive measures of sexually transmitted diseases in Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State. The finding of hypothesis three showed that there is no significant difference on the awareness level of sexually transmitted diseases among senior secondary school students in Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State on the basis of age. The finding of hypothesis four revealed that there is no significant difference in the practicing of preventive measures of sexually transmitted diseases among senior secondary school students in Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State on the basis of age. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that school counsellors and psychologists should organize group guidance programme for secondary school adolescents with the aim of educating young people about STDs. The content of the programme should be creating awareness of STDs and ways to reduce the risk of STDs; and school guidance counsellors should intensify efforts and encourage secondary school adolescents to practice preventive measures of sexually transmitted diseases. This will help to reduce risk of sexually transmitted diseases.