Full Project - ASSESSMENT OF PERCEPTION OF VOLUNTARY COUNSELLING &

Full Project – ASSESSMENT OF PERCEPTION OF VOLUNTARY COUNSELLING & TESTING (VCT) OF HIV/AIDS AMONG CHRISTIAN STUDENTS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

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ABSTRACT

The study examined “Assessment of perception of voluntary counselling & Testing (VCT) of HIV/AIDS among Christian Students in Secondary Schools”. Three objectives were used for the study, they are to: examine the knowledge of Christian Students on voluntary HIV counselling and testing; find out attitudes of students practices on voluntary HIV counselling and testing and examine the perception of Secondary School students towards HIV voluntary counseling and testing. The study samples comprised of a total of one hundred (100) students from five (5) selected Secondary Schools. The research used primary source of data in the course of study. The primary data were collected through the instrument of questionnaire. The research design was the descriptive survey design. A simple random sampling method was employed to get 100 respondents. Simple percentage was used to analyze the data while Pearson Product Moment Correlation with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that early diagnosis of HIV infection through VCT leads to risky behaviour change and facilitates medical interventions, thus contributing to the reduction of transmission of the infection. The study concludes that there is positive relationship between attitudes and practices of the students towards voluntary HIV counselling and testing.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The knowledge of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) status of an individual is critical in the prevention and treatment of the virus. It helps the individual to make informed decision, assess personal risk for HIV and further develop risk reduction strategy (World Health Organization, 2010). In turn, this leads to behaviour change and consequently contributes to the reduction in HIV transmission. It is for this reason that voluntary HIV counselling and testing (VCT) has been identified to be one of the interventions to control HIV epidemic. VCT provides access to continuum of prevention, treatment, care and support in HIV/AIDS management (National Department of Health, 2010).

Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) is one among different approaches which have been implemented as an attempt to slow the spread of HIV infection and minimize its impact at the individual, family and society levels. VCT is perceived to be an effective strategy in risk reduction among sexually active young people like tertiary level students.

HIV prevention programs must be differentiated and locally adapted to the relevant epidemiological, economic, social, and cultural contexts in which they are implemented. HIV prevention is for life, therefore, both delivery of existing interventions as well as research and development of new technologies require a long term policies of prevention should be in place and have to address norms and beliefs, recognizing both the key role they may play in supporting prevention efforts and the potential they have to fuel HIV transmission (WHO, 2010).

Despite the scale up of preventive messages on HIV in Nigeria, available statistics showed that prevalence among youth only dropped from 4.3% in 2005 to 4.2% in 2008 (UNGASS 2010). Low uptake of VCT generally among Nigerians has also been reported (Joseph, 2010). The concern of high incidence of this disease among young people in Nigeria underscores the need to examine the knowledge of preventive strategy such as VCT in early adolescence.

The VCT is one of the important priority interventions to curb HIV/AIDS. It is a process whereby an individual undergoes counselling in order to make an informed decision about being tested for HIV, assess personal risk for HIV and further develop risk reduction strategy (WHO, 2010). Early diagnosis of HIV infection through VCT leads to risky behaviour change and facilitates medical interventions, thus contributing to the reduction in transmission of the infection to other people (Center for Disease Control, (CDC) 2007). Meanwhile, global coverage of VCT programmes remains low; especially in countries with highest HIV/AIDS burden (WHO, 2010).

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In Nigeria, the motivation to undergo VCT is still low in spite of various VCT interventions by the government and non-governmental organisations (Joseph, 2010). According to the National HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey (NARHS) conducted, VCT coverage in Nigeria is about 11.7% among age group 15-49 years despite the fact that 78% of the population are willing to be tested (UNGASS 2010).

Joseph (2010) examined youth’s attitudes towards VCT and found that most of the respondents had not tested for HIV. It was reported that there are high awareness of VCT among the students but poor knowledge of what VCT entails. These indicates that Nigerian adults are informed about VCT but there are barriers resulting to poor coverage of the service. The threat posed by the level of HIV prevalence among the youth as shown in the statistics above underscores a cause for concern to study issues of HIV testing among this group.

Adolescents face early sexual debut, unprotected sex, sex with multiple sexual partners, high frequency of sex, high risk of sexual coercion and abuse, age differences in relationship, peer pressure and need to belong, which often predisposes them to the risk of HIV infection (NDoH 2010). The low uptake of VCT among adolescents is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to examine the perception of voluntary counselling & Testing (VCT) of HIV/AIDS among Christian Students in Secondary Schools.

The specific objectives of this study are to:

examine the knowledge of Christian Students on voluntary HIV counselling and testing.
find out attitudes of students practices on voluntary HIV counselling and testing.
examine the perception of Secondary School students towards HIV voluntary counseling and testing.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research questions for this study were:

What is the level of knowledge of voluntary HIV counselling and testing among Christian Students on VCT?
What are the attitudes and practices of the students towards voluntary HIV counselling and testing?
What are the perception of Secondary School students towards/HIV voluntary counseling and testing?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The following hypotheses were developed for the study:

H₀: There is no positive relationship between students’ knowledge and voluntary HIV counselling and testing.

H₁: There is positive relationship between students’ knowledge and voluntary HIV counselling and testing.

H₀: There is no positive relationship between attitudes and practices of the students towards voluntary HIV counselling and testing.

H₁: There is positive relationship between attitudes and practices of the students towards voluntary HIV counselling and testing.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study examines Assessment of perception of voluntary counselling & Testing (VCT) of HIV/AIDS among Christian Students in Secondary Schools. The study might face some logistic challenges in term of the time and the costs involved in carrying out the research, but nevertheless, it would endeavor to accomplish its aims and objectives.

1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Voluntary HIV counselling testing (VCT) is a critical strategy to reduce the rate of new HIV infections. Getting young people to test for HIV is imperative to curb the spread in Nigeria since this population contribute immensely to the epidemic.

It is envisaged that, the findings of this study will help health programme planners to review existing services so as to provide a youth-friendly services and environment whereby high school students can comfortably be at ease to undergo VCT.

Knowledge generated will help health training institutions to incorporate the findings of this study in their training curriculum, so that better pre and post-test counselling approaches could be adopted by the nurses who are majorly counsellors in Nigeria.

1.8 CONCEPTUAL DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

The theoretical and operational definitions of the key terms used in this study were defined as follows:

Assessment: Assessment in this study refers to gathering information from the respondents to describe what they know about VCT and how the knowledge reflect in their attitudes and practices towards VCT.

Knowledge: In this study, knowledge refers to the ability of the students to know what is involved in a VCT process, its importance and where to uptake it.

Attitude: Attitude refers to thoughts, intention, opinion, feelings and belief of the students about VCT.

Practice: Practice refers to the ways in which knowledge and attitudes are demonstrated through actions.

Adolescent: The term adolescent, youth or young people are often used interchangeably in many literatures and the definition differs from country to country.

Student: A student is a learner or someone who attend an educational institution.

Voluntary HIV counselling and testing (VCT): The VCT is a process whereby an individual choose to undergo HIV counselling so that they can make an informed decision whether to be tested for HIV

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Full Project – ASSESSMENT OF PERCEPTION OF VOLUNTARY COUNSELLING & TESTING (VCT) OF HIV/AIDS AMONG CHRISTIAN STUDENTS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Full Project – ASSESSMENT OF PERCEPTION OF VOLUNTARY COUNSELLING & TESTING (VCT) OF HIV/AIDS AMONG CHRISTIAN STUDENTS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Full Project – ASSESSMENT OF PERCEPTION OF VOLUNTARY COUNSELLING & TESTING (VCT) OF HIV/AIDS AMONG CHRISTIAN STUDENTS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

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