ABSTRACT
The aim of this
research study was to determine the awareness and utilization of healthcare
services. This was a descriptive study conducted among student nurses in
Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State. A total of 100 student nurses were
recruited for the study, of which 98 student nurses responded. Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to generate
descriptive statistics and chi-square statistical testing was conducted to test
the research hypothesis. The results revealed that 91.8% of the respondents are
aware of the university health centre while the 7.2% claimed they are not. On
the source of knowledge of the respondents, 64.5% heard from collegue, 24.5%
from orientation and 8% from students in other departments. On the level of
utilization, 51.8% of the respondents seldfom use the University health centre
while 8.2% never used it. Excess time spent in waiting for treatment (66.8%),
unavailabity of essential drugs (84.5%) and lackadaisical attitude of some
staff (69.1%) were among factors affectng utilization of university health care
service by the respondents. The hypothesis test result (p-value = 0.001)
confirmed that there is a significant relationship between the awareness of the
healthcare services and the level of utilization of healthcare services by
student nurses of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma. Conclusively, there was high
level of awareness and poor utilization of the university health service among
nursing students in Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma. It therefore recommended
that there should be educational reforms to restructure and correct anomalies
in the university healthcare centre.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Good health
is the basis on which social progress is built. A nation needs to
promote good health status of her citizens in order to be productive and
contribute positively to its development and progress of the country. In order
to protect and promote the health of the individual, there should be
utilization of Healthcare Services for the protection, promotion and
maintenance of the health of the individual as well as the treatment of
diseases and ailments. All these can only be achieved if there are effective
healthcare services for the people. These services if utilized will help in
eliminating or reducing the health problems of the people in any given
community. Good healthcare services need to be made available for the students
to take care of their health so that they could achieve the goal of being in
school. The students are a vibrant group whose health needs adequate care. They
are a group of people still growing fast and everything should be done to
protect their health. Most of the students are at the peak of their productive
years and as such, they need adequate care of their health in order to meet
their aspiration in life, as well as to help build the society in which they
find themselves (Lee et al., 2003).
The term health care
services cover a wide range of services in health promotion, illness
prevention, early detection of diseases and management of health problems
within the community. Health care services are designed to meet the health
needs of the community through the use of available health facilities with
health manpower carrying out their professional duties (Obiechina and Ekendedo,
2013). A health care facility, in general, is any location where health
care is provided. Health facilities range from small clinics and doctor’s offices
to urgent care centers and large hospitals with elaborate emergency rooms and
trauma centers (Okafor et al., 2011).
It
is assumed that awareness of health leads to improvement in life expectancy,
which is a robust indicator of human development. A simple channel through
which health affects human development is by improving living conditions. The
mere provision of health facilities does not necessarily imply increased or
improved utilization of health services by communities; major factors that influence
health facility use include distance to facilities, cost of services, cultural
beliefs of the individual, nature of illness and quality of the health services
available (Ager and pepper, 2005)
Utilization of health and medical services are the ways in which
individuals respond to ill health and disease. Many factors may influence this
response, including characteristics of the individual and their ability to
access the type of resources they may need in their quest to deal with their
ill health. There is a clear distinction in the literature between health care
seeking which emphasizes the ‘end point’ use of services and health-seeking
which emphasizes the wider ‘process’ (Mackian et
al., 2004).
Institutions of higher education (i.e.
universities, colleges) provide a venue for providing health information
education, reducing high health risk behaviours and providing interventions to
assist students in coping with their health problems/issues. “Leaving home to
attend the university and living in residence is a crucial time which can
influence this individuals to make healthy or unhealthy lifestyle choices which
can impact health practices and the development of conditions for the remainder
of their lives” (Makrides, 2003).
According to Chitalu (2009), poor funding of most
universities in Africa is affected by the type of health facilities available.
Lifestyle choices, health beliefs and resource availability affect the health
perception and behaviour of individuals. Health services are designed to meet
the health needs of the community through the use of available health
facilities with health manpower carrying out their professional duties. In a study conducted on daily nutrition of
university students that lived away from their families, different factors have
been attributed to health behavior of most university students (Tunde et
al., 2014). Most health care facilities in the Nigerian University
environment are mere dispensary or first aid treatment centers. This is because
they are not supplied with adequate drugs and health care instruments that can
meet the emerging trends of health crisis (Fayeye, 2009). As it is known that
every university has its own health centre, where students seek first hand
health service. Students encounter problems while making attempts to access
health care in the university health care; the challenges usually encountered
have implications on their level of utilization. If students are well attended
to and the administration system adjudged by the students to be superb, it will
influence their decision to re-visit the health centre when the need arises,
otherwise, the students seek health care far away from school. The probable
reason while some students prefer going back home to meet their parents when
they fall ill. Moreover, the factors that influence university students’
decision to seek professional care are dynamic. In Nigeria, university student
face series of stresses to access health care, the administration process and
the lackadaisical behaviour of some staff to students’ ill-health have
substantial influence on their decision to seek health care at the university
health centre. Most of the university health centres in the country are
underequipped or lack sophisticated equipment to treat chronic and degenerating
diseases like diabetics, asthma, and hepatitis among others. Some do not have
sufficient drugs to treat infectious diseases like malaria, typhoid and
dysentery to mention but a few. The study carried out by (Chitalu, 2009).
According
to Tunde et al. (2014), Nigerian University Students face series of
stresses in accessing health care, the administration process and lackadaisical
behaviour of some staff to students ill health have substantial influence on
their decision to seek health care at the university health center. It is on
this background that this present study is hence, conducted to examine the
level of awareness and utilization of university health care services among
undergraduate student nurses, of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Previous work
done has shown that cost of health services, distance of health facilities,
waiting time and quality of care, were found to be contributory to the
non-utilization of health facilities by students (Adekunle et al., 2006). Moreover, the factors that
influence university students’ decision to seek professional care are dynamic
(Chitalu, 2009). It has been observed from discussion with colleagues that most
students prefer going back home to meet their parents whenever they are ill. Most
students do not realize that the school even has a healthcare service to attend
to students and staff alike when the need arises. Therefore this research is
set to evaluate the awareness and utilization of the university health care
services by student nurses in Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma.
OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
The broad objective of this study is to
assess students awareness and utilization of healthcare services in Ambrose
Alli University Ekpoma. The following objectives were formulated:
1. To determine the awareness of
university health care services by students nurses of Ambrose Alli University
Ekpoma
2. To examine the sources of awareness of
the university healthcare centre.
3. To
assertain students utilization of university health care service.
4. To
describe the factors affecting utilization of the healthcare centre.
SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
The findings from the study will be used
to sensitize students on the importance of regular medical check-up and
treatment in a health care facility and to highlight the dangers of
self-medication, thereby improving the students’ utilization of healthcare
services.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
i.
Are the student nurses aware of the
health care services?
ii.
What
is the student nurses source of awareness about health care services?
iii.
What
is the level of utilization of health care services by student nurses?
iv.
What
factors affect the utilization of health care services by student nurses?
RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
Ho:
There is a significant relationship
between the awareness about health care services and the utilization of health
care services by student nurses of Ambrose
Alli University Ekpoma.
SCOPE
OF STUDY
This study is delimited to student nurses in Ambrose Alli
University Ekpoma, to investigate the awareness and utilization of healthcare
services and factors affecting the utilization of health care services by
student nurses of Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma. Male and female student
nurses will be used for this work.
LIMITATION
OF STUDY
There
could be recall bias. Although the respondents are requested to complete the
questtionaire independently, discussion between the respondents cannot be
entirely ruled out. The time frame could also be a limiting factor.
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION
Health:
The physical, mental and social state of a person.
Healthcare centre:
A building where healthcare services are rendered.
Healthcare service: A
business entity that provides inpatient or outpatient testing or treatment of
human disease or dysfunction; dispensing of drugs or medical devices for
treating human disease or dysfunction.
Student nurse: A
student undergoing nursing training
Awareness:
The conscious idea a person has about something
Utilization:
the use of an entity or commodity.
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