EFFECTS OF HEALTH EDUCATION INTERVENTION PROGRAMME ON UTILIZATION OF PREVENTIVE STRATEGIES AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE AMONG FEMALE ADOLESCENT STUDENTS IN SABON GARI, KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined the effects of health education intervention programme on utilization of preventive strategies against sexual violence among female adolescent students in Sabon Gari, Kaduna State Nigeria. The study employed Quasi-experimental research design. The population of the study comprised adolescent female students in Sabon Gari local government in Kaduna State which are 19,369. Two purposes, research questions and hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A multi-stage sampling technique comprising stratified, purposive, simple random convenient and proportionate sampling techniques was used in selecting 200 female adolescent students in public secondary schools in Sabon Gari Local Government Area, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Two hundred (200) copies of the researcher-developed questionnaire were distributed using convenient sampling technique. Data collected was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) IBM version 26. Frequency and simple percentages were used to describe the demographic characteristics of the respondents, while mean and standard deviations were used to answer the research questions. Inferential statistics of two-sample test was used to test the formulated hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. The findings of the study revealed that there is no significant utilization of preventive strategies against sexual violence among female adolescent students in experimental and control groups at baseline before exposure to health education intervention programme (p = 0.139); there is significant utilization of preventive strategies against sexual violence among female adolescent students in public secondary schools in Sabon Gari, Kaduna State, Nigeria after exposure to health education intervention programme (p = 0.000). It was concluded that Female adolescent students in public secondary schools in Sabon Gari, Kaduna State, Nigeria did not utilize preventive strategies against sexual violence before exposure to health education intervention. It was recommended that the Kaduna State Ministry of Education should enact a law or policy to incorporate sexual violence preventive strategies within the curriculum of health education in secondary education curriculum so as to educate the entire secondary school students' population invariably bringing about reduction in the cases across the nation.