EFFECT OF HEALTH EDUCATION ON VOLUNTARY TESTING AS A STRATEGY FOR PREVENTION OF HEPATITIS B VIRUS SPREAD AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN IN YOLA, ADAMAWA STATE - NIGERIA.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of Health Education on voluntary testing as a strategy for prevention
of hepatitis B virus spread among pregnant women in Yola, Adamawa State - Nigeria. The population for this study
comprise of one hundred and forty-three thousand six hundred and eighty-nine (143,689) pregnant women registered in
hospitals, Adamawa State, Nigeria. Out of which one thousand one hundred and ninety-four (1,194) pregnant women were
used as target population from the three (3) selected health facilities. The sample size for this study consists of sixty (60)
pregnant women who were drawn from the target population of pregnant women, thirty (30) experimental group and thirty
(30) control group for the purpose of generalization. A multi-stage sampling technique was used for this study. The
instrument used for data collection was researcher developed questionnaire through an intervention programme. Pilot study
was conducted to ascertain the reliability of the instrument, a reliability index of 0.919 was obtained which means that the
instrument was reliable. Data were collected as pre-test scores, after the intervention, the same set of questionnaire was re-
administered. Data were again collected from the two groups (experimental and control), and analyzed with the help of
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), IBM version 26. Frequencies and percentages, means and standard
deviation was used in answering the research question. Inferential statistics of analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was
used in the test of the hypothesis at the fixed probability level of 0.05. Finding revealed that six weeks health education
programme has significant effect on voluntary testing among pregnant women in Yola p-value of 0.000 (p < 0.05), Based
on the finding, it was recommended the use of Posters, billboards, awareness campaigns and other communication channels
to increase the knowledge of the public on measures against hepatitis B virus spread.