Effect of Health Education on Behavioural Intentions towards Household Waste Management among Women of an Urban Community in Nigeria.

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of Health Education on the household waste management behavioral intentions of women in Mgbuoshimini, an urban community in Nigeria. The study was a quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test study which specifically focused on two research questions and two hypotheses. Data for the study was obtained from a sample size of 162 women drawn from a population of 6,591 women living in Mgbuoshimini using a purposive sampling technique. A validated self-structured questionnaire titled Household Waste Management Behavioural Intentions Questionnaire (HWMBIQ) with a reliability index of 0.77 was used for data collection. The data collected was analyzed employing the Mean, Standard Deviation Paired-sample t-test, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that health education significantly increased the behavioural intentions of the women from a mean of 1.74 to 3.26. However, there were variations in their behavioural intentions based on the demographic variables of age, level of education, and occupation. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that the State Waste Management Agency, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and key community leaders, should integrate the health education intervention into their waste management strategies. This can serve as a grassroots approach to promote sustainable waste management practices at the household level and foster long-term behavioural changes across communities in Nigeria.