College students’ knowledge,attitudes and adherence to public service announcements on Ebola in Nigeria: Suggestions for improving future Ebola prevention education programmes

Abstract

Introduction:

Apprehension over a possible recurrence of Ebola remains pervasive among college students in Nigeria. Prevention education continues to be carried out through public service announcements (PSAs) on radio, television and in the social media. However, little is known about college students’ knowledge, attitudes and adherence to PSAs on Ebola virus. The purpose of this study was to investigate college students’ knowledge and attitude about Ebola and factors that predict adherence to Ebola education information mediated through PSAs.

Methods:

A total of 211 copies of structured questionnaire were administered to a multi-stage sample drawn from a medium-sized private university in Nigeria.

Results:

The majority of the participants responded correctly to the questions related to Ebola virus transmission. Nearly 86% of students agreed that Ebola can be contracted through the body secretions of a sick person, 83% students identified the basic symptoms of Ebola as fatigue and vomiting, while 82% agreed that regular washing of hands and use of hand sanitisers can prevent transmission of Ebola. Knowledge and attitudes emerged as significant predictors of students’ adherence to PSA advice on Ebola disease (p < .05).

Discussion:

Misconceptions about the causes and transmission of Ebola abound in spite of the high awareness about the virus, suggesting that the Ebola PSAs may not have succeeded in dispelling some strongly held beliefs about Ebola virus disease. The findings suggest that a considerable percentage of college students no longer follow the advice contained in Ebola-related PSAs. It may be that the declaration that Nigeria is Ebola free by World Health Organization (WHO) has given rise to a lax attitude towards the disease.

Conclusion:

In spite of their shortcomings, PSAs remains an important vehicle for conveying Ebola prevention education to college students.

Keywords

Adherence attitude college students Ebola knowledge Nigeria public service announcements

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ajzen

(1991) The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 50: 179–211.

Ayenigbara

(2014) The facts, the fears, and the prevention of Ebola haemorrhagic fever: A focus on Nigeria. International Research Journal of Public and Environmental Health (9): 192–196.

Blake

(1999) Overcoming the value action gap in environmental policy: Tensions between national policy and local experience. Local Environment 4: 257–278.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2015) The road to zero: CDC’s response to the West African Ebola epidemic. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/about/pdf/ebola/ebola-photobook-070915.pdf (accessed 25 June 2016).

Chigbu

Ntiador

(2014) Ebola in West Africa: Implications on ‘community interaction’ in urban Nigeria. International Journal of Education and Research 2(10): 329–346.

Chukwu

(2014) Statement of the Honourable Minister of Health on the strategies of government to prevent the spread of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) at the Emergency National Council on Health Meeting on Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in Nigeria, 11th August, 2014. Avalable at: http://www.nursingworldnigeria.com/2014/08/minister-of-health-statement-at-the-emergency-national-council-on-health-nch-on-preventing-ebola-spread. (accessed 20 September 2014)

Cialdini

Reno

Kallgren (1990) A focus theory of normative conduct: Recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 58(6): 1015-1026.

Clayton

Myers

(2009) Conservation Psychology. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Courage

(2014) How did Nigeria quash its Ebola outbreak so quickly? Scientific American. Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-did-nigeria-quash-its-ebola-outbreak-so-quickly/ (accessed 20 June 2016).

10.

CPP (2014) Study on the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) knowledge, attitudes and practices of Nigerians in Lagos state. Available at: http://cpparesearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Knowledge-Attitude-Practices-of-Nigerians-on-the-EVD_Survey-Report_2014.pdf (accessed 26 May 2016).

11.

Crano

Prislin

(2006) Attitudes and persuasion. Annual Review of Psychology 57: 345–375.

12.

Cronbach

(1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika 16(3): 297–334.

13.

Dixon

Schafer

(2014) Ebola viral disease outbreak – West Africa, 2014. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 63: 548–551.

14.

Eagly

Chaiken

(2007) The advantages of an inclusive definition of attitude. Social Cognition 25: 582–602.

15.

Faisal

Rajni

Emmanuel

et al . (2014) Ebola virus disease outbreak – Nigeria. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 63(39): 867–872.

16.

Fishbein

Ajzen

(2005) Theory-based behaviour change interventions: Comments on Hobbis and Sutton. Journal of Health Psychology 10(1): 27–31.

17.

Gidado

Oladimeji

Roberts

et al . (2015) Public knowledge, perception and source of information on Ebola virus disease–Lagos, Nigeria. PLOS Currents Outbreaks. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/currents.outbreaks.0b805cac244d700a47d6a3713ef2d6db

18.

Heen

(2016) Combating Ebola through public enlightenment and concerted government action: The case of Nigeria. In: Kuriansk

(ed.) The Psychosocial Aspects of a Deadly Epidemic: What Ebola Has Taught Us about Holistic Healing. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, pp. 325–335.

19.

Iliyasu

Ogoina

Otu

et al . (2015) A multi-site knowledge attitude and practice survey of Ebola virus disease in Nigeria. PLoS ONE 10(8): 1–13.

20.

Lee-Kwan

DeLuca

Adams

et al . (2014) Support services for survivors of Ebola virus disease-Sierra Leone. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 63(50): 1205–1206.

21.

Main

(2004) The Rupture of Time: Synchronicity and Jung’s Critique of Modern Western Culture. New York: Routledge.

22.

Russell

Fielding

(2010) Water demand management research: A psychological perspective. Water Resources Research 46(5): 1–12.

23.

Saunders

Lewis

Thornhill

(2009) Research Methods for Business Students. 5th ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall, pp. 106–135.

24.

Shittu

Sanni

Odeigah

et al . (2015) Awareness, knowledge and misconceptions about Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in a family practice setting in Nigeria, West Africa. Journal of Antivirals & Antiretrovirals 7(1): 9–14.

25.

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (2014) Study on public knowledge, attitudes, and practices relating to Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) prevention and medical care in Sierra Leone. Available at: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Ebola-Virus-Disease-National-KAP-Study-Final-Report_-final.pdf (accessed 21 May 2016).

26.

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (2015) National knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) study on Ebola virus disease in Liberia (pp. 10–11). Available at: http://www.unicef.org/cbsc/files/KAP-Study-Liberia-March-2015.pdf (accessed 21 May 2016).

27.

Vogel

Bohner

Wanke

(2014) Attitudes and Attitude Change. Hoboken, NJ: Taylor & Francis.

28.

Willett

(2003) Ebola Virus. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow.

29.

World Health Organization (WHO) (1978) Ebola haemorrhagic fever in Zaire, 1976. Report of an international convention. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 56(2): 271–293.

30.

World Health Organization (WHO) (2014) Nigeria is now free of Ebola virus transmission. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/20-october-2014/en/ (accessed 20 August 2016).

31.

World Health Organization (WHO) (2015) Emergency guideline implementation and management of contact tracing for Ebola virus disease. Available at: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/185258/1/WHO_EVD_Guidance_Contact_1.1_eng.pdf?ua=1 (accessed 8 June 2016).

32.

World Health Organization (WHO) (2016) Nigeria detects wild poliovirus in recently accessible areas of Borno State. Available at: http://www.afro.who.int/en/nigeria/press-materials/item/8892-nigeria-detects-wild-poliovirus-in-recently-accessible-areas-of-borno-state.html (accessed 20 August 2016).

33.

Zimmerman

(2003) Killer Germs: Revised and Updated. New York: McGraw-Hill.