Attitudes Towards Hiv Testing, Awareness of Hiv Campaigns, and Using Social Networking Sites to Deliver Hiv Testing Messages in the Age of Social Media Among Undergraduates in Delta State
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Aim of the Study
The aim of this study is to examine the attitudes towards HIV testing, awareness of HIV campaigns, and using social networking sites to deliver HIV testing messages in the age of social media among undergraduates in delta state. The objectives are as follows:
Objectives of the Study
- To assess the extent of the use of social media by young people in the two selected universities in Delta state.
- To establish how social networking impacts on Nigeria‘s efforts in getting to zero new-HIV infection
- To explore how social networking can be effectively used to campaign for HIV testing and awareness effectively to young
- To examine other factors contributing to HIV vulnerability of the youths in Nigeria
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Overview of Social Networking
Social networking is an online service focusing on reflecting and building of social networks or relations among people sharing same interests, activities or backgrounds. These services or sites allow the user to create a virtual representation or profile showcasing one‘s likes, dislikes, interests, activities etc and also providing some additional services. Most of these services are internet based thus providing the users to interact with other fellow users easily. Wikipedia (2012) states that In 1994 the first social networking site was developed and the AOL messenger service was amongst the first popular instant messaging services evolved in 1997. These social networking sites have evolved and now have become extremely popular worldwide. Some of the popular networking sites are: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Friendster, Hi5, Orkut, Hyves etc. Geocities was the first web-based social networking site developed in 1994. In 2004 FACEBOOK was launched at Harvard University as a way of connecting all the U.S. college students. In 2006 Twitter was launched which has been a huge success with 300 million users presently. In 2008 Facebook overtook MySpace to become the leader among the social networking sites. Presently Facebook has a user-base of more than 845 million.
These social networking sites are being developed ever since and have now exploded to become one of the biggest industries. These sites in order to remain at the top of social networking continuously add new features and applications to make it more user-friendly. Dewitt (2012) believes that:
Chatting and video calling has made it easier for the users to keep in contact with their friends. Sites like Facebook have added many games and applications thus attracting users making it a means of killing their free time. While Twitter, a micro- blogging site allows the users to constantly update their daily activities. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc are the sites currently dominating the field of social networking but it requires implementation of new concept to create the gravity around these sites else its user-base can fall drastically and their market share can dwindle in no time as it happened in case of Orkut.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
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This section discusses the methods and procedures that were adopted in carrying out the study. This study investigated how social networking increases the vulnerability of young people in Nigeria. Mixed method was used in gathering information from the field (questionnaire, Focus group discussion and In-depth interview) Specific objectives were achieved using a mixed-method cross-sectional study design. Elements of qualitative and quantitative design are combined for revealing the empirical data which will be interpreted to draw conclusions. Mixed method data collection techniques are useful in that they afford the opportunity to use multiple sources of information to verify and gain insight into the social world. The ability to interpret findings can be increased in a mixed method design as the merits of one method are used to strengthen the weakness of the other method. Mixed method designs are essential in providing interrogated results (Meermaind 1998).
In this study, we anticipate the mix method will yield comprehensive empirical evidence for the set objectives for this research. The quantitative data should provide unbiased, objective empirical data which will be supported by a qualitative analysis of the usage online.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Introduction
This chapter starts with the socio-demographical analysis of the respondents, their social networking-use behavior, and their associated risk behaviour. In order to simplify the discussions, the researcher provided tables and graphs where necessary to summarize the collective reactions of the respondents. This seminar is primarily concerned with the analysis and discussion of the results collected through the use of questionnaire, Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and In-depth Interviews (IDI). To recapitulate, the questionnaires were administered to the students who are active users of Social Networking sites; a total of 368 responses were received 300 of them were valid. Next to the questionnaire, FGD and IDI interviews were conducted.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
Summary
Thus far we have explored in this study the use of social network in campaign for HIV awareness that leaves young adults at increased risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI). Social networking as a platform for interaction leaves young people with several alternatives to express their innate emotional desires beyond the confines of their physical location. Through the exchange of pornographic images and chats that go with it, the hunger for a sexual activity is activated; and in desperate need to quench them, leads to unprotected sexual intercourse.
Social networking can intensify sexual vulnerabilities of a young person and can also be utilized in improving their HIV-comprehensive knowledge. If young adults are sexually educated and well-informed on risk behaviour and a wide range of protective measures; through the social networking platforms that have become the dominant culture of the twenty-first century youths, they are better informed to make decisions. Thus, there is nothing wrong with social networking sites, the way they are being utilized by young adults mostly for lewd purposes is what makes it a high risk. If this trend we have on ground continues unabated, it would lead to an increase in new dimension of HIV infections among young adults and the general population in Nigeria.
Recommendations
In view of the findings of the study stated above, we therefore offer the following recommendations:
- NGOs and development agencies as well as civil society organization should as amatter of urgency critically pay attention to Social Network Sites in an attempt at exploring its potential for effective health communication and
- Donor agencies should fund projects/programmes that aim at empowering people tobe Internet
- Universities and colleges should also encourage student‘s (especially undergraduate students) positive usage of Social Network Sites by creating study groups online on particular courses for students to engage in scholarly discourse since majority of users on these platforms are youths.
- Further research into the potentials of the usage of Social Network Sites should beencouraged as this will further help determine the extent of its capabilities to bring about development through effective communication.
- HIV/AIDS campaigns should be repackaged and taken to the social networking sites to educate the youths and engage their attention
Conclusion
This research work provided insight on attitudes towards HIV testing, awareness of HIV campaigns, and using social networking sites to deliver HIV testing messages in the age of social media among students through the findings obtained from the field. The findings imply that social networking is becoming part of young people‘s everyday life and if not properly utilized could lead to risky behaviours including HIV. This study suggests also that further researches should explore the use of social networking for HIV interventions with young people.
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