Nc Osuchukwu

Influence of marital and educational status on clients' psychosocial adjustment to HIV/AIDS in Calabar, Nigeria

A comparative descriptive design and a stratified random sampling technique were adopted to study the influence of marital and educational status on the psychological, social, and spiritual adjustment of 280 respondents living with HIV/AIDS in two randomly selected clinics within Calabar, Nigeria. A 30 item questionnaire, with a content validity index of 0.92 and a Cronbachs alpha reliability coefficient of 0.94, was used for data collection, with due attention to ethical considerations. The findings showed that marital status had a significant influence on the respondents psychological and social adjustment but not on their spiritual adjustment. Those that were married and those with higher educational qualifications had better psychological adjustment than those who had never married. The marital and educational status of clients should be considered when conducting education or counseling, making recommendations, or organizing support groups for living with HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, advocacy aimed at meeting the psychosocial needs of single and less-educated clients could enhance their psychosocial adjustment.

Disproportionate Burden of HIV Prevalence among Men and Women assessing HIV Testing and Counseling Services in Cross River State, Nigeria.

Background: In Sub-Saharan Africa, approximately 57% of Adults living with HIV are Women.HIV prevalence in Cross River State is 7.1%, compared to National of 4.1%. This study aims to ascertain the HIV prevalence rates among men and women assessing HIV Testing and Counseling (HTC) services in Nigerias South-South region. Methods: Cross-Sectional quantitative study was conducted in November, 2011 among clients who received HTC services in 34 Primary Health centers across 5 LGAs of Cross River state. Relevant data of HIV Sero-Status of clients were collected from provider administered HTC client intake forms. Data was analyzed using Pearson Chi-Square. Results: 690 clients 316 (45.8%) male and 374 (54.2%) females were tested for HIV using Determine Abbott test kits. Age distribution of clients ranged from 18-41 years with mean age of 29.5 years. Prevalence of HIV among clients is 4.2% (29/690) with women contributing 7.0% (25/374) as compared with Men 1.2% (4/316). There was a significant association between HIV Sero-Status of Men and Women, (Pearson Chi-Square, P= 0.01). Conclusion: This result indicates that HIV Prevalence among women is disproportionately greater than that among men in Cross River state which appeared significant at the 95% confidence interval.

The Problems And Prospects Of Family Planning Services In The University Of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar

The focus of this research was to study the problems and prospects of family planning services in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar. The Levels of poverty, income and health education of the clients were studied. The main source of data and information was a structured questionnaire. A sample of 200 respondents were randomly selected out of which 180 of them fully completed and returned the questionnaires for analysis. The major findings of the study were that some economic and socio-cultural factors hindered the application and acceptance of family planning service by clients in the UCTH Calabar. There was significant relationship between clients income level and the acceptance of modern family methods. There was a significant relationship between clients levels of health education and the acceptance of modern FP services. There was also significant relationship between levels of funding and staffing by the Teaching Hospital and application of modern FP services by clients who patronize these services. Based on these findings, the study recommended that the federal, state and Local Governments should direct some resources to the funding of health services, including FP services in order to improve citizens access to health care delivery services and thus promote the health of citizens. Deliberate efforts should be made by the management of UCTH Calabar to train and retrain health services providers to equip them with knowledge, skills and new ideas required for the handling of clients with all types of FP problems Keywords : Problems, Prospects, Family planning, Calabar Global Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 7 (1) 2008: pp. 43-48