IMPACT OF SEXUALITY EDUCATION PROGRAMMES ON YOUTHS BY EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COMFORT FM RADIO PROGRAMME, “YOU ARE NOT ALONE” ON YOUTHS OF ITU LGA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
The mass media are playing strong role in construction and reconstruction of ideas, opinion and reframing the various understandings of every individual throughout life. Every passing day the world is socially revolutionized. Individuals have great influences from different sources of communication, performing a very strong role not only in the development of mature persons’ thinking but also in youngsters’ thinking. Majority of youths watch TV, use internet, & listen to radio and get exposure. However, there exist a considerable number of young people that draw inspiration from the contents of media material Curtis (2012).
Mass media as an agent of socialization has a deep effect on viewers of all ages. The mass media acts as a socialization agent in various ways. They keep the public aware about events, introduce us to a variety of people having diverse cultures and give a range of point of view on current issues of national and international significance. Mass media is a means through which the public can have access to latest and useful information. Although Majority of people acknowledges that the media has a lion share in youth socialization, there is need to be aware that the level of influence depends on the accessibility and pervasiveness of media. The media exerts an enormous, almost a normative influence, over the lives of men, women, adolescents and children. It influences, particularly among teenagers, the ways in which individuals and groups dress, talk, behave, and think. This research work will consider the effects of media on this particular age group.
According to Adepoju (2005), in recent times, the youth who constitute ages 10-24 and 36.7 per cent of the Nigerian population, are found to be highly vulnerable to antisocial behaviours such as violent crimes, unsafe sexual activities and drug abuse among others. The Nigerian Association for the Promotion of Adolescent Health and Development, (NAPAHD) has also alerted that, an hospital based research has shown that, 80 per cent of patients with abortion complications are adolescents.nThis assertion was based on the fact that, over 16 per cent of teenage females reported first sexual intercourse by age 15 while 8.3 per cent of boys of age 15 have also had their first encounters. This adolescents’ health dilemma has been attributed to their great lack of information and knowledge about the implications of their population behaviour on their sexual health and the general welfare of the nation. In this vain the introduction and institutionalisation of sexuality education became one of the immediate efforts made to address this problem to create awareness about these sexually based problems. The rational was to acquaint the youth with factual and accurate sexual information about the dimensions of sexual knowledge that will enable them understand and clarify their personal values, improve their sexual knowledge and sexual decision–making and promote their knowledge about how all these interact with socio-cultural and religious factors to affect personal well-being. This set of values sexuality education was set to promote perhaps form part of the motivation for its introduction into the Nigerian educational system. However, in view of the predicament suffered by similar intervention packages such as Population/Family-life Education it is relevant to examine the potentials forsuccess and failure of this nascent subject.
The Comfort FM Radio programme “You are not Alone” is a programme that helps in advicing youths on different issues to enable them make right decisions on academic achievement, friendshipsand relationships, aggression, prosocial behavior, sexualbehavior, body image, love quotes, sensational messages, etc.
Since the society depends on the media-radio for information, it is the intention of the researcher to find out how effective the Comfort FM Radio programe “You are not alone” is on the youths of Itu Local Government Area.
1.2 Statement of the problem
The world in which young people grow uptoday is very different from that of theirparents or grandparents.Compared with the youth of past generations,young people today have more opportunities and challenges. They are likely to have more independence from their parents and spend more time in school. They are likely to have widespread access to the radio and television and, increasingly, to the Internet and mobile phones. They are also entering adolescence earlier and healthier, postponing marriage and child bearing until later, and are more likely to have sex before marriage.
In response to these major societal changes, educators, researchers, policymakers and parents alike have become increasingly interested in the potential for sexuality education to help meet the needs of young people.
The quality and quantity of evaluation research in this field has improved dramatically over the last decade, and there is now clear evidence that sexuality education programmes can help young people to delay sexual activity or total abstinence from pre-marital sex. Moreover, studies to date provide an evidence base for programmess that go beyond just reducing the risks of sexual activity—namely, unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and programmes that also address young people’s sexual health and well-being more holistically. Yet, the fact remains that, too often, young people do not get even the most basic sexuality education and that misinformation about sex and its consequences remains common.
Indeed, implementing comprehensive sexuality education programmess remains a challenge in many parts of the world. To address these challenges, experts say that stronger responses are needed to engage governments, communities, families and young people themselves in sexuality education policies and programmess. Specifically, they assert that sexuality education policies and programsmust be based in human rights and respond to the interests, needs and experiences of young people themselves.
This research work therefore attempts to find out the impact of sexuality education programmes on youths by evaluating the effectiveness of the Comfort FM Radio programme, “you are not alone” on youths of ITU LGA
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study are:
- To determine the exposure of youths in ITU LGA on the comfort FM radio programme “you are not alone”.
- To determine the effectiveness of the comfort FM radio programme“you are not alone” on influencing emotional attitude of youths in Itu LGA.
- To ascertain the extent to which the radio programme “you are not alone” has helped in sex education among youths in Itu LGA.
- To find out factors that influenced the comfort FM radio programme “you are not alone” in addressing the emotional behavior of youths in Itu LGA.
1.4 Research Questions
The following research questions are formulated based on the objectives of the study:
- What is the level of exposure of youths in ITU LGA on the comfort FM radio programme “you are not alone”?
- How effective is the comfort FM radio programme “you are not alone” on influencing emotional attitude of youths?
- To what extent has the radio programme “you are not alone” helped in sex education among youths in Itu LGA?
- What are the factors that influenced the comfort FM radio programme “you are not alone” in addressing the emotional behavior of youths in Itu LGA.?
1.5 Scope of the Study
This study covers the effectiveness of Comfort FM Radio programme, “you are not alone” on youths of Itu LGA. It is limited to youths in Itu LGA.
1.6 Significance of the Study
This study is significant in the following ways:
It will enable the management of Comfort FM know the impact of the programme on the youths.
The study will also be useful to the sponsors and presenter of the Comfort FM radio programme “You are not alone”, as it will provide feedback information on the role of the progrmme in influencing their sexual attitude, relationships and social behavior of youths.
The research work will reveal to the stake-holders of the prgramme the effectiveness of the programme in promoting sexuality education among youths.
The study will also serve as a useful reference material to other researchers seeking related information.
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IMPACT OF SEXUALITY EDUCATION PROGRAMMES ON YOUTHS BY EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COMFORT FM RADIO PROGRAMME, “YOU ARE NOT ALONE” ON YOUTHS OF ITU LGA
