Influence of Awareness and Attitude of Risky Sexual Behaviours on Effectiveness of Guidance and Counselling Services Among Egerton University Students, Njoro Campus, Kenya

Abstract

Young people form a large number of the population worldwide. A large part of this population group lives in both developed and developing countries. They are involved in a higher risk of risky sexual behaviours. These risky sexual behaviours sway youths to numerous sexual and reproductive health repercussions such as unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV and AIDS. Globally, having awareness about the spread of HIV and a positive attitude on safe sexual practices has an impact over the prevention of HIV and AIDS. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of awareness and attitude of risky sexual behaviours on effectiveness of guidance and counselling services among Egerton University students. The study was descriptive in approach. 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 twenty-four were rejected due to incomplete responses and missing data. Proportionate, stratified sampling, simple random sampling, and purposive sampling methods were used to select the participating faculties and respondents. Seven student counsellors were purposively sampled as key informants since they directly counselled students daily. A questionnaire for students and interview schedule for students’ counsellors 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 obtained using Cronbach’s alpha. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics which entailed (means, frequencies, and percentages) and inferential statistics (Pearson Correlations coefficients, Linear Regression, and t-test). Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 aided in data analysis. Findings of the study indicated that awareness and attitude of risky sexual behaviours have a significant influence with the effectiveness of counselling at 0.05 significant levels. Further, the findings shown that there was no statistically significant gender difference in students ‘awareness and attitude of risky sexual behaviour on effectiveness of guidance and counselling services. 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 pregnancy, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections and drug abuse.