KNOWLEDGE OF THE ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS AND PREVENTIVE STRATEGIES TOWARDS DEMENTIA AMONG PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN ENUGU STATE NIGERIA
Keywords:
Associated Risk Factors, Preventive Strategies and DementiaAbstract
Dementia, a health problem which destroys nerve cells and damages the brain, leading to deterioration in cognitive function is one of the most significant causes of incapacity, disability, and dependency especially among older adults. To try and address this issue and get the young ones acquainted about dementia, the study verified the Knowledge of the Associated Risk Factors and Preventive Strategies towards Dementia among Teachers in Public Secondary Schools in Enugu State. The study was guided by six research questions and three null hypotheses which were tested at the significance level of 0.05. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 8,450 public secondary school teachers in Enugu state. Taro Yemene technique was used to get 381 public secondary school teachers. Multi-stage sampling approaches were employed to select participants for the study. Knowledge of Dementia Questionnaire (KODQ) validated by three experts was used as instrument for data collection. The reliability of KODQ was established using Kuder Richardson 20. The data obtained was analyzed using the KR-20 method in SPSS to evaluate the internal consistency of the test. The results indicate varying reliability levels among different clusters in the instrument: 15 items Knowledge of Dementia cluster gave KR-20 coefficient of 0.78, while the 12 items Knowledge of the Risk factors of Dementia cluster gave KR-20 coefficient of 0.66. Also, Knowledge of Preventive Strategies of Dementia cluster gave KR-20 coefficient of 0.68. The high KR-20 value indicated that the test items were consistently measuring the same construct. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics to summarize and understand its distribution and t-retest used to analyze the hypothesis. The findings of the study showed that the knowledge of associated risk factors and preventive strategies towards dementia among teachers in Enugu State is moderate. It was concluded that comprehensive in-service training programs for teachers on dementia should be conducted and regularly monitored and evaluated. It was of recommendation that Ministry of Education should consider integrating health topics related to dementia into secondary school curriculum.
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