Olujide A Adekeye

P3.390 Factors Predicting Attitude of First Year University Students towards STI and HIV in Ogun State,Nigeria

Background Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and Human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune-deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) are global problems and currently over 100 million STIs occur each year in people within the 15–24 age bracket. Young people between ages 15 and 24 also account for more than fifty (50) percent of all HIV infections throughout the world. Methods A survey research questionnaire made up of three trajectories including sexual behaviour scale, attitude towards STI/HIV/AIDS scale and knowledge of STI/HIV/AIDS scale was used in this study (n = 226, mean = 18.3years). The study made use of frequency counts, percentage and regression analysis. The SPSS software was used to analyse the data. Results The study indicates a fairly high knowledge level of STI/HIV (89.4%) with more males (87%) and younger participants (88%) possessing good knowledge of STI/HIV. Majority of the participants are sexually active (63.3%) and of this are more males (61.3%) and younger participants (60%). Findings show that age (β = 0.025; t = 0.04; p > 0.05) of the three predictor variables was not a predictor of attitude towards STI/HIV. However, knowledge of STI/HIV (β = 0.459; t = 5.032; p < 0.05) and sexual behaviour (β = 0.341; t = 4.278; p < 0.05) were strong predictors of attitude towards STI/HIV. Conclusion This study shows the need for strong advocacy, enlightenment and community mobilisation for improved awareness of STI/HIV. Local, community and religious leaders, including youth leaders should be incorporated into the drive to increase awareness and knowledge of STI/HIV/AIDS among young people in Nigeria.

ITEM ANALYSIS OF UNIVERSITY-WIDE MULTIPLE CHOICE OBJECTIVE EXAMINATIONS – THE EXPERIENCE OF A NIGERIAN PRIVATE UNIVERSITY

Teachers and Students worldwide often dance to the tune of tests and examinations. Assessments are powerful tools for catalyzing the achievement of educational goals, especially if done rightly. One of the tools for ‘doing it rightly’ is item analysis. The core objectives for this study, therefore, were: ascertaining the item difficulty and distractive indices of the university wide courses. A range of 112–1956 undergraduate students participated in this study. With the use of secondary data, the ex-post facto design was adopted for this project. In virtually all cases, majority of the items (ranging between 65% and 97% of the 70 items fielded in each course) did not meet psychometric standard in terms of difficulty and distractive indices and consequently needed to be moderated or deleted. Considering the importance of these courses, the need to apply item analyses when developing these tests was emphasized.

Assessment of Health-related Locus of Control among Undergraduates Substance Users and Non-Users

- Introduction: Locus of control is one of the most extensively investigated psychological constructs in literature and the purpose of the study was to assess health-related locus of control among undergraduate’s substance users and non-users. Methods: Data from 574 students between ages 18 and 27 (n= 574, mean=21.15 (+/- 1.8years) was collected from five tertiary institutions in AdoOdo-Ota LGA, Nigeria. An adapted and validatedversion of the World Health Organization (WHO) questionnaire on drug use surveys and the multidimensional health locus of control (MHLC) which was designed to measure the degree to which an individual feels they are in control of their ownhealth were employed for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferentialstatistics.Three research hypotheses were raised and tested. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The preliminary result shows that there is no significant difference in the health-related locus of control between substance users and non-users, and between heavy and occasional drinkers, but there exist significant differences based on gender. Conclusion: This article discusses the implications of these findings especially in the area of health education and the use of health locus of control measures Adekeye, Olujide A.b,c , Agoha, Ben C.a , Adeusi, Sussan O.b , Igbokwe, David O.a , Olowookere, Elizabeth I.a , Elegbeleye, Ayo O.a and Sholarin, Muyiwa A.a

DETERMINANTS OF CAREER MATURITY AMONG SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN NIGERIA

Interaction with penultimate year students and some final year high school students show a mixed message or attitude concerning a future career choice. Most are confused and uncertain about what they want to study after completing high school. This attitude motivated the design of this study. The aim of this study is the investigation of the factors that could possibly predict career maturity of high school students in Nigeria. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional survey design. The sample consisted of 703 senior high school students selected from six schools. The Career Maturity Questionnaire comprising of five (5) research trajectories viz Self Efficacy scale, Self-Esteem scale, Parental Social Economic Scale, Academic Need Achievement Scale and the Career Maturity Scale was employed for data collection. All the sub-scales in The Career Maturity Questionnaire were validated. Data is currently being analysed. The results will be discussed, conclusions shall be drawn and recommendations on factors that will improve students’ career maturity highlighted. The identification of these factors will assist schools and vocational counsellors’ to offer early career counselling and to create appropriate interventions.

EFFECT OF SLEEP PATTERN ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

There have been studies that demonstrate the impact of sleep on both implicit and explicit memory. Of particular interest is that sleep has been shown to aid memory consolidation. This holds some implication for students, most of whom sleep for considerably very little amount of time, whereas they require sufficient amount of sleep to consolidate memory for material learned during the day. This study was therefore designed to investigate the possible impact of sleep on the academic achievement of undergraduate students. The study participants were 300 undergraduate students drawn from about twenty Department of a private university in Nigeria. 152 of the participants were female and the rest were male. The School Sleep Survey Habit Scale previously validated in Nigeria by one of the authors (IDO) was used to measure sleep habit, while academic performance was measured as self-reported grade. The result of Analysis of variance using SPSS XX showed a significant effect of Sleepiness on Academic Performance F (8, 211)=3.73, P<.01, and on Cumulative Grade Point Average, F (4, 190) = 3.82, P<.005. The study also showed that stimulant intake significantly impacted on Sleep habit. It was concluded that to enhance students academic achievement counseling centres should endeavour to include sleep in their orientation programme for students. Besides, it would be necessary not to cram up the programme in such a manner that would rob the students of adequate rest and sleep.

EFFECT OF EXPOSURE TO TELEVISION COMMERCIALS ON THE BODY IMAGE AND SELF-ESTEEM OF FEMALE ADOLESCENTS

Introduction: This study investigated the effects of exposure to television commercials and magazines on the perceived body image and self-esteem of female adolescents. Young girls are becoming increasingly aware of their body image through the image of models in advertising, and imagecentered ideals portrayed in the media. Methods: Sixty female secondary school students between the age of 12 and 16 years participated in this experimental study. The study made use of the between-subject design by dividing the sixty participants into two groups of thirty students each for experimental and control categories. This was done using the simple random sampling of odd-even method without replacement. Two validated scales were employed to measure the study variables. The Rosenberg self-esteem scale and the Franzoi’s body image scale with reliability coefficients as high as 0.78 and 0.83 respectively. Results: Two hypotheses were raised and tested. Results show there is a significant difference between exposure to media and female body image (t = 21.82, df = 58, p = 0.05), and self-esteem (t = 18.59, df = 58, p = 0.05). The second hypothesis was also retained. It showed a positive and significant relationship between body image and self-esteem. Conclusion: The study revealed that media exposure has effects on body image and self-esteem of female adolescents. Concern with appearance is not just an aberration of modern western culture because every phase in history has had its own standards of what is and is not beautiful

Health Workers’ Commitment in Delta State:Influence of Personality and Workplace Experiences

Aim: Health workers’ commitment is very important in the effective discharge of their duties but this may be compromised when challenged by workplace experiences. Research is therefore required to provide data base to inform policy decision on health workers’ commitment to their work. This research therefore investigated personality ( emotional intelligence and fortitude) and workplace experiences (job-characteristics and perceived alternative employment opportunities) as predictors of commitment among health workers. Method: The study utilized cross - sectional design. The participants were two hundred and twenty-three (223), randomly selected from Federal Medical Center, Delta State- 90(40.4%) males and 133(59.6%) females with the mean age of 34.3 and standard deviation of 8.07. The participants completed a structured questionnaire that measures the dependent and independent variables of the study. Inferential statistics were used to test the hypotheses stated. Result: The independent variables significantly and jointly predicted 12% of the variance in career commitment among the health workers. Specifically, emotional intelligence independently influenced career commitment. Job status and year of experience jointly and significantly interacted to influence career commitment. However, only job status had significant main influence of on career commitment. Married respondents reported higher level of career commitment than those who were single. Conclusion: Emotional intelligence, job status and being married were associated with the career commitment of the health workers in this study. It is recommended that policy makers should incorporate these factors into capacity building programmes to enhance health workers’ commitment. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s2p258

Begging to Live: The Strategy of Survival for People with Intellectual Disabilities in Nigeria

This chapter examines intellectual disability and begging in the Nigerian context. The interface between the two phenomena is considered with a view to understanding the socio-cultural conditions that precipitate begging by people with intellectual disabilities in Nigeria. The chapter concludes by recommending effective policy implementation strategies in the area of education targeted at both parents of people with intellectual disabilities and the person with the disability themselves.