Exploring Attitudes Towards Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Female Students In Rivers State Public Secondary Schools
Uchechi Nneoma Eze
Department of Human Kinetics, Health and Safety Education, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rivers State
Chukwudi Ifeanyi Okoro
Department of Human Kinetics, Health and Safety Education, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rivers State
Abstract
This study investigated the attitude towards sexually transmitted infections among female secondary school students in Rivers West Senatorial District, Rivers State. The descriptive research design was adopted. The population for the study consisted of sixteen thousand, six hundred and ninety-nine female senior secondary school students in Rivers West Senatorial District. A simple random sampling technique was adopted to select a sample size of 860. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire titled Attitude towards STI Questionnaire (APSQ) with a reliability index of 0.85. The data analysis was done with the aid of the Statistical Product for Service Solution (SPSS) version 23.0 using mean, standard deviation, T-test, and ANOVA at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that the attitude towards sexually transmitted infections among female students in public secondary school in Rivers West Senatorial District was positive (2.69±0.89). Based on age, positive attitude towards sexually transmitted infections was found more among the younger students who were aged: 15-19 years (2.79±0.91), followed by those aged 10-14 years (2.56±0.75), and those aged 20-24 years (2.52±0.84); those in the urban areas (2.71±1.06); and those in JSS (2.67±0.86). Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that, female students in public secondary school in Rivers West Senatorial District had positive attitude towards sexually transmitted infections. It was recommended among others that the school authority in collaboration with the prefects should always organize a one-day compulsory orientation for all new students, where issues such as sexually transmitted infection will be deliberated upon.