INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION MEDIUM ON THE PREVENTION OF HIV/AIDSAMONG RESIDENTS IN BIDA LGA, NIGER STATE

Abstract

Communication is central to prevention strategiesaimed at influencing individual behaviour. With
many variations in contexts that determine behaviour, it is evident that communication approaches to
HIV/AIDS prevention and care need to be re-evaluated. The study examined influence of
communication medium on the prevention of HIV/AIDS among residents in Bida LGA, Niger state.
Descriptive survey research design was used for this study. Population comprises all residents in Bida
LGA, Niger state. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 400 respondents. A
validatedresearchers’ structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The reliability was
carried out using test re-test and correlation co-efficient of 0.75 was obtained through PPMC
Statistics. The postulated hypotheses were tested using non-parametric statistics of chi-square at 0.05
alpha level.The findings of this study showed that social media (ᵡ2=200.34 > tab.=16.92 @ 9df), print
media (ᵡ2=218.07 > tab.=16.92 @ 9df), and electronic media (ᵡ2=236.47 > tab.=16.92 @ 9df)
significantly influenced the prevention of HIV/AIDS. It was concluded that social media, print media
and electronic media could be used in prevention of HIV/AIDS among residents in Bida LGA, Niger
state. It was recommended that media should be used to communicate on health issues to the residents.