Knowledge of Prevention and Practice (of Prevention) Of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) Amongst Students of Community Secondary School (CSS) Abuloma, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the knowledge of the principles of prevention of STIs and the practice of prevention of STIs amongst students of CSS Abuloma Port Harcourt. The correlational study design guided the study, while the Health Belief Model was the theoretical framework that underpinned the research. A total of 1,140 students constituted the study population while the balloting method was used to secure 325 respondents as the sample size for the study. The Sexually Transmitted Infection Study Scale (STISS) is the instrument used for data collection. The STISS was designed and peer-validated by the researchers. Before it was deployed for use, it was subjected to a reliability test (test-retest within a two-week interval) in a sister institution. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) was used in testing the correlations between the two groups of data and the correlation was found to be 0.8. Simple percentages and mean were used in addressing the descriptive data, while chi-square was the statistics used for the relationship between the knowledge of the principles of prevention and the practice of prevention. On the whole, the students had an average knowledge of 62.7% on the principles of prevention of STIs. They also had a positive attitude of =3.13 in the principles of prevention but for the preventive practice, they had an = 2.36. They also had a statistical significance for the relationship between knowledge and prevention with a p-value 0.005 (x2= 6.828; df = 1, p-value = 0.008). Though they were on average knowledgeable on the existence of STIs and their preventive measures, there is no significant relationship between their knowledge of the principles of prevention and their practice of prevention.