Secondary School Students’ Exposure to Health Science Education and their Awareness of Malaria Preventive Measures in Owerri Education Zone I of Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which Health Science Education helps in creating awareness of malaria preventive measures among Secondary School Students in Owerri Education Zone I of Imo State. A survey research design was adopted for the study. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study.  A sample size of 399 Health Education students was selected as the sample size using Taro Yamane formula and Cluster random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection is a rating scale made by the researcher titled “Health Education and Malaria Preventive Measures Rating Scale” (HEMPMRS). A reliability coefficient of 0.86 was obtained for the HEMPMRS using Cronbach’s alpha statistic. The research questions were answered using mean scores and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using the one sample t-test and independent samples t-test. Findings showed that exposure to Health Science Education helps students to a high extent to be aware of malaria preventive measures and there is a significant difference in the responses of students on their awareness of malaria preventive measures based on their location. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended that Health Science Education Teachers should be consistent in their teaching about malaria preventive measures so as to sustain students’ awareness about the disease and that topics like Malaria Prevention should be taught with the influence of location in mind i.e more emphasis should be laid in the teaching of malaria prevention in rural schools.