PERSONAL HYGIENE RELATED KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES AMONG IN-SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS IN SELECTED PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN IBADAN SOUTH EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, IBADAN, OYO STATE

Abstract

Personal Hygiene is fundamental to prevention and control of communicable diseases and maintaining good health. There has been increase push for the need to maintain good hygiene practice among adolescents in Oyo state. There is dearth of studies that have assessed the personal hygiene practices of adolescents and available facilities in secondary schools in Nigeria. The main goal of this study was to investigate the personal hygiene practices and knowledge among in – school adolescents and available facilities for promoting the behavior in selected public schools in Ibadan South East Local Government Area, Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design and gathered data from four hundred and nineteen (419) in-school adolescents in IBSELGA, Ibadan. The schools were stratified into wards followed by random selection of one school from the six wards by balloting. A structured questionnaire which include a 21-knowledge, 13-perception, 25-practice and 14-facility-question items was used for data collection. Knowledge scores of ≤9, ˃9 to ≤ 13 and ˃ 13 were rated as poor, fair and good respectively. Perception scores of ˃7 were classified as positive while practice score of ˃4 was rated as good. Data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistics at 5% level of significance. Frequency distribution revealed that more of the respondents, 199 (47.5%) were between 15 and 17 years old, followed by 168 (40.1%) who were less than 15 years. Mean knowledge, perception and practice scores were 16.2±2.2, 8.7±3.2 and 5.9±1.9 respectively. Respondents with positive and negative perception were 68.5% and 31.5% respectively. Nearly two thirds majority of the respondents engage in good personal hygiene practices 95.9%. Findings revealed that there exists significant and positive relationship between perception of personal hygiene and personal hygiene practices (x²= 1.017; P=.335). In respect of availability of facilities and materials that can promote students’ personal hygiene and which can lower the incidence of communicable diseases, observational data revealed that none of the schools had soap, tissue paper/ towel for cleaning hands after toilet use, bore hole water and hand- washing basins. Knowledge and perception impact moderately on personal hygiene of the studied secondary school students. It is therefore recommended that deliberate educational interventions including special lectures, practical exercises supplemented by information, education and communication materials such as comics and charts should be implemented in collaboration with the Parents, Teachers Association (PTA). In addition, government should ensure the provision of infrastructure and materials such as running portable water and handwashing platforms that would facilitate personal hygiene practices in the school setting.