Knowledge of School Health Programme among Public Primary School Teachers in Oyo State, South-Western Nigeria: A Rural-Urban Comparative Study

Abstract

Teachers are in a vantage position to facilitate positive health among school-age children through the School Health Programme (SHP). Lack of basic knowledge of the programme among them will hinder its effective implementation. Studies to gauge teachers’ knowledge of SHP are needed to improve the current suboptimal level of implementation in Nigeria. This study was conducted to assess and compare the knowledge of SHP among public primary school teachers in rural and urban areas of Oyo State, South-west Nigeria. A comparative cross-sectional survey was conducted among teachers in selected rural and urban public primary schools using a 2-stage cluster sampling technique. Knowledge scores were computed giving minimum and maximum obtainable scores of 0 and 33 respectively. Respondents were reported as having inadequate knowledge if aggregate score was <16.5 and adequate if ≥16.5. Associations were tested using Chi-square and t-test for qualitative and quantitative variables respectively at p=0.05. Majority (84.6%) of the teachers had inadequate knowledge of SHP with similar proportions in the rural (84.2%) and urban (84.9%) schools. Higher proportions of those aged ≥40 years, that were ever married and had 2 qualifications had adequate knowledge compared with their counterparts (p<0.05). Majority of the teachers had inadequate knowledge of SHP. Further study to assess teachers’ training in SHP is needed. This may inform training intervention to upgrade their knowledge of the programme in the study area. (Afr J Reprod Health 2015; 19[3]: 55-60).