EFFECT OF BIOCENTRIC COUNSELLING ON AWARENESS OF SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN JALINGO EDUCATION ZONE.

Abstract

This Research investigated the effect of Biocentric Counselling on awareness of sexually transmitted infections among secondary school students in Jalingo Education Zone. Two research Objectives guided the study and two Hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of 
significance. The study adopted one group of non-randomized pre-test/post-test quasi experimental design. The population of the study was 3,116 secondary school students from the 45 Public Secondary Schools in Jalingo Education Zone. The sample size of the study was fifty 
(50) SS II students selected from senior secondary schools in Jalingo Education Zone, consisting of 25 male and 25 female drawn purposively from one (1) secondary school. The instrument for data collection was a self-developed structured questionnaire, titled ‘Awareness on Sexually Transmitted Infection Questionnaire (ASTIQ). It was arranged in two sections A and B, comprising of thirty items. Section A elicited information on the bio data of the respondents. Section B contained items of the research questions variables and it was divided in to four cluster 1,2,3 and 4. The ASTIQ was duly validated by three experts in the Faculty of Education, Taraba State University, Jalingo. The reliability of the ASTIQ was obtained by subjecting the ASTIQ to a pilot test and it yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.779. The data collected were analysed. Inferential statistics of paired-sample t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study findings revealed that after the treatment participant appear to be more  aware of sexually transmitted infections. The counselling appears to have a similar impact on awareness of sexually transmitted infections across gender. It was recommended that Government should encourage the training of more counsellors to handle problems relating to awareness of sexually transmitted infections, workshops and seminars in counselling should be organized often, in order to acquaint both the teachers and students on awareness of sexually transmitted infections and Counsellors, psychologists and other professionals working in school settings should create special programmes for students with problem on the awareness of sexually transmitted infections.