Egerton University Students’ Level of Awareness of the Risks of Engaging in Sexual Behaviours and Attitude Towards Effectiveness of Counselling Services

Abstract

Young people form a large number of the population worldwide. A large part of this population group lives in developing countries. They are at higher risk of involving in risky sexual behaviours. These risky sexual behaviour sway youths to numerous sexual and reproductive health repercussions such as unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV and AIDS. Globally, awareness about the spread of HIV and a positive attitude on safe sexual practices has a serious control over the prevention of HIV and AIDS. The purpose of this study was to determine students’ level of awareness of risky sexual behaviours and attitudes towards the effectiveness of counselling services. To achieve this purpose, descriptive design was used. The target population was 14,578 undergraduate students from Egerton University. The accessible population was 12,462 students from nine sampled faculties at Egerton University, Njoro Campus. The sample was 375 respondents, however, 351 respondents were included in data analysis as some were rejected due to incomplete responses and missing data. Probability Proportionate to size, stratified sampling, simple random sampling, and purposive sampling methods were used to select the participating faculties and respondents. Seven student counsellors were purposively sampled too as key informants since they directly counselled students daily. A questionnaire and interview schedule were used to collect data. A pilot study was carried out at Laikipia University-Main Campus and 37 students participated to establish the reliability of the questionnaire. In the study, the reliability coefficient of 0.78 was established using Cronbach alpha. The collected data were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics (Pearson Correlations coefficients, Multivariate Regression, and t-test). Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 aided in data analysis. The study established that both levels of awareness of risky sexual behaviours and students’ attitudes have a significant association with the effectiveness of counselling at 0.05 significant levels. Following these findings, the study recommends the development of effective intervention programmes and sensitisation programmes that inform students about the effectiveness of counselling services to enhance the utilization of these services in the prevention of unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections and drug abuse. Keywords: Level of awareness, Students’ attitude, Risky sexual behaviours, effectiveness of counselling services DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-9-20 Publication date: March 31 st 2020