RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHERS’ KNOWLEDGE EFFICACY IN HIV/AIDS AND STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN COAST REGION, KENYA

Abstract

Teachers’ knowledge efficacy in HIV/AIDS plays an important role in curbing the spread of HIV and AIDS among the youth through education. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between teachers’ knowledge efficacy in HIV and AIDS and students’ knowledge and attitude towards sexual behaviour in secondary schools in the Coast Region of Kenya. The study used descriptive survey research design. The target population was 112013 respondents in 362 public secondary schools in the Coast Region of Kenya. Proportional, purposive and random sampling methods were used to choose the participants. The samples comprised 417 respondents of which 29 were teachers and 388 students in 13 secondary schools. Questionnaires were used to collect the data. The validity of the instruments was checked by the supervisors and other experts in the field of research. The instruments were piloted in three secondary schools in Kilifi County within the Coast Region of Kenya to establish their reliability. Test-retest method was used to compute reliability coefficient from the data collected from the pilot study. Reliability coefficients were 0.8 for both teachers and students’ questionnaires. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis. The descriptive statistics that were used were frequencies and percentage. Chi-squire statistics was used to test the hypotheses in the study. The hypotheses testing was done at α = 0.05 level of significance. The data collected in this study was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer programme version 20.0. The findings showed the relationship between teachers’ knowledge efficacy in HIV/AIDS and students’ knowledge and attitudes towards sexual behaviour. The study also revealed that majority of Form 4 students had negative attitude towards sexual behaviour and that both teachers and students had high knowledge of HIV and AIDS. The study recommends that the Teachers Service Commission should employ teachers who can teach HIV/AIDS education and life skills education in secondary schools.