EFFECTS OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN HIV/AIDS PREVENTIVE EDUCATION ON SECONDARY STUDENT KNOWLEDGE ABOUT TRANSMISSION AND PREVENTION IN AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

This study investigated HIV/AIDS preventive health education involving nurses alone (IG1) and another involving both nurses and trained parents/ guardians (IG2) on students' knowledge of HIV/AIDS' transmission and prevention in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Subjects included 339 students selected through a multistage and stratified random sampling technique. A pre-test/post-test intervention design with control group was used. Data were obtained using questionnaire, and analysis involved the use of analysis of covariance, multiple classification analysis, and Scheffe's post-hoc test. Results show that students exposed to parental involvement had significantly better mean scores on knowledge of prevention (IG2: (x) over bar = 7.51; IG1: (x) over bar = 6.96 control: (x) over bar = 3.82). Furthermore, although the male students had significantly higher mean score with intervention involving only nurses, the females had higher mean score with intervention involving parents/guardians. It is recommended that parents/guardians should be trained and involved in HIV/AIDS' preventive education of secondary school students.