RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HIV/AIDS KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE AND MEDIA EXPOSURE ON HIV/AIDS: A CROSS SECTIONAL SURVEY OF ADOLESCENT ISLAMIYYA GIRLS IN NORTHEAST NIGERIA

Adamu Muhammad Hamid; Ezhar Tamam

Adamu Muhammad Hamid Department of Communication Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication Universiti Putra Malaysia
Ezhar Tamam Department of Communication Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication Universiti Putra Malaysia

Abstract

Media exposure on HIV/AIDS among adolescents in the sub-Saharan Africa has been reported as low in the early 2000s but now given growth in infrastructure and development in technology and program appeal, there emerges a need for reassessment. Given that communication particularly through the media is considered as a major preventive strategy to addressing the spread of the epidemic, this study investigates the media exposure, knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of adolescent Islamiyya girls in Northeast Nigeria on HIV/AIDS as a predominantly Muslim society against the background of earlier studies which have shown that Muslim communities which were hitherto considered protected are now witnessing a rapid evidence of an advancing HIV/AIDS epidemic. And because of peculiar cultural and social practices women and girls are the worst affected. Media exposure on HIV/AIDS messages is considered a principal variable associated with safe attitudes and practice on the disease’s prevention which was mainly investigated among the girls as potential mothers. The main objectives of the study were to determine the girls’ patterns of media exposure and their KAP statuses in relation to HIV/AIDS through questionnaire survey. Based on Hierarchy of Effects model, hypotheses were posed to test the relationships between HIV/AIDS media exposure and HIV/AIDS knowledge, safe practice and safe attitudes among the girls, and relationship among the KAP variables. Survey will be administered on a sample of 487 Islamiyya girls in Bauchi. This study finds that while mass media exposure is not a significant predictor of HIV/AIDS safe practice and favorable attitude, it is a significant predictor of HIV/AIDS knowledge. While HIV/AIDS knowledge is a significant predictor of both HIV/AIDS favorable attitude and safe practice.

References

Aiken, L. (2002). Attitudes and related psychosocial constructs: Theories, assessment, and research. London: Sage.
Airhihenbuwa, C.O. & Obregon, R.(2000). A Critical analysis of Theories/ of Models Used in Health Communication for HIV/AIDS in Journal Health communication,vol 5: pp 5-15 Bankole, A., Singh, S., Woog, V., & Wulf, D. (2004). Risk and protection: youth and HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. New York: The Guttmacher Institute.
Baran, S. J., & Davis, D. K (2003). Mass Communication Theory: Foundation Ferment and Future (3rd ed.) Thomson Wadsworth
Barry, T. E. (1987). The development of the hierarchy of effects: An historical perspective. Current issues and Research in Advertising, 10(1-2), 251-295.
Bekalu, M. A., & Eggermont, S. (2013). Media use and HIV/AIDS knowledge: a knowledge gap perspective. Health promotion international, 29(4), 739-750.
Bouanchaud, P. (2011). Scaling Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices and Media Exposure – Are Migrants at Increased Risk of HIV in China? London:Migration Studies Unit Working Papers. London School of Economics and Political Science. Brodie, M., Hamel, E., Brady, L. A., Kates, J., & Altman, D. E. (2004). AIDS at 21: Media coverage of the HIV epidemic 1981-2002. Columbia Journalism Review, 42(6), A1.
Gańczak, M., Barss, P., Alfaresi, F., Almazrouei, S., Muraddad, A., & Al-Maskari, F. (2007). Break the silence: HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and educational needs among Arab university students in United Arab Emirates. The Journal of Adolescent Health : Official Publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 40(6), 572.e1–8.
Greig, R., & Raphael, B. (1989). AIDS prevention and adolescents. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 13(2), 211-219.
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2014). A primer on partialleast squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Hamid, A. M., & Baba, I. M. (2014). Resolving Nigeria's ‘Boko Haram’Insurgence: What Role for the Media?. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 155, 14-20.
Hanan, M. A. (2009). HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns a critical analysis.Canadian Journal of Media Studies, 5(1), 129-158.
Harrison, A. (2005). Young people and HIV/AIDS in South Africa: prevalence of infection, risk factors and social context. In S. S. Abdool Karim & Q. Abdool Karim (Eds.), HIV/AIDS in South Africa (pp. 262-284). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hoosen, S., & Collins, A. (2004). Sex, sexuality and sickness: discourses of genderand HIV/AIDS among KwaZulu-Natal women. South African Journal ofPsychology, 34 (3), 487-505.
Hayduk, L. A., & Littvay, L. (2012). Should researchers use single indicators, best indicators, or multiple indicators in structural equation models?. BMC medical research methodology, 12(1), 159.
Meundi, A. D., Amma, A., Rao, A., Shetty, S., & Shetty, A. K. (2008). Cross-sectional population-based study of knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding HIV/AIDS in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, India. Journal of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care, 7(1), 27-34.
Mitchell, E. S. (1986). Multiple triangulation: A methodology for nursing science. Advances in Nursing Science, 8(3), 18-26.
Mulwo, A. K. (2008). An analysis of students’ responses to ABC & VCT messages at three universities in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, a Doctor of Philosophy in culture, communication and media studies dissertation, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Larkin, B. (2004). Degraded images, distorted sounds: Nigerian video and the infrastructure of piracy. Public Culture, 16(2), 289-314.
Letamo, G. (2011): “Does correct knowledge about HIV and AIDS lead to safer sexual behaviour? The case of young people in Bostwana”. Journal of African Population Studies 25 (I) ,44-62
Li, L., Rotheram-Borus, M. J., Lu, Y., Wu, Z., Lin, C., & Guan, J. (2009). Mass media and HIV/AIDS in China. Journal of Health Communication,14(5), 424-438.
Moore, D. (2008). HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, involvement, and predictors of condom use among African American college students: implications for communication strategies for HIV/AIDS prevention (Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University). National HIV & AIDS Behavior Change Communication – year strategy 2004 – 2008.Abuja: National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA).
Potter, W. J. (2012). Media effects; London: Sage.
Rahnama H, (2009). Knowledge, Attitude and Practice on HIV/AIDS among UPM Students. a Master's Thesis submitted to Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia Thanavanh, B., Harun-Or-Rashid, M., Kasuya, H., & Sakamoto, J. (2013). Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding HIV/AIDS among male high school students in Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Journal of the International AIDS society, 16(1).
Thomson, C., Currie, C., Todd, J., & Elton, R. (1999). Changes in HIV/AIDS education, knowledge and attitudes among Scottish 15–16 year olds, 1990–1994: findings from the WHO: Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (HBSC). Health Education Research, 14(3), 357-370.
UNAIDS. (2006). 2006 Report on Global AIDS Epidemic: a UNAIDS 10th Anniversary Special Edition. Geneva: UNAIDS
Sassenberg, K., Matschke, C., & Scholl, A. (2011). The impact of discrepancies from ingroup norms on group members' well-being and motivation. European journal of Social Psychology, 41(7), 886-897. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.833.
Sznitman, S., Stanton, B. F., Vanable, P. A., Carey, M. P., Valois, R. F., Brown, L. K., ... & Romer, D. (2011). Long term effects of community-based STI screening and mass media HIV prevention messages on sexual risk behaviors of African American adolescents. AIDS and Behavior, 15(8), 1755.
Xiao, Z., Li, X., Lin, D., & Tam, C. C. (2015). Mass media and HIV/AIDS prevention among female sex workers in Beijing, China. Journal of health communication, 20(9), 1095-1106.