KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION OF STUDENTS TOWARDS HIV VOLUNTARY, COUNSELING AND TESTING IN TERTIARY INSTITUTION
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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 to knowledge, attitude and perception of students towards HIV voluntary, counseling and testing in University of Lagos.
The specific objectives of this study are to:
- examine the knowledge of students in University of Lagos on voluntary HIV counselling and testing.
- find out attitudes of students practices on voluntary HIV counselling and testing.
- examine the perception of undergraduate 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 students in University of Lagos on VCT?
- What are the attitudes and practices of the students towards voluntary HIV counselling and testing?
- What are the perception of undergraduate 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 knowledge, attitude and perception of students towards HIV voluntary, counseling and testing in University of Lagos. 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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