EFFECTS OF SOCIAL-MEDIA-DELIVERED INTERVENTION ON EXPOSURE TO PORNOGRAPHY AND RISKY SEXUAL BEHAVIOURS AMONG STUDENTS OF SELECTED TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN OYO AND LAGOS STATES

Abstract

Exposure to pornography is fraught with health and social implications. A major source of this exposure is the Social Media (SM) platforms, which are widely used by young people. In Nigeria, there is inadequate information on the effects of SM-delivered-intervention in facilitating behavioural changeamong young persons. Previous interventions through these platforms among them have largely focused on career development. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of SM-delivered-educational intervention on exposure to pornography and RiskySexual Behaviours (RSB) among students of selected tertiary institutions in Oyo and Lagos States. The quasi-experimental study was conducted in two purposively selected public polytechnics in Oyo and Lagos States which were allocated into Experimental Group (EG) and Control Group (CG), respectively. A four-stage simple random sampling technique was used to select 200 students (EG=101; CG=99) for interview at baseline, out of which 159 students (EG=81; CG=78) were interviewed at post-intervention. Baseline data collected with a validated self-administered questionnaire included: socio-demographic characteristics, lifetime and recent (last one month) Advertent Exposure to Pornography (AEP), a 20-point scale on Effects of Exposure to Pornography (EEP),12-point Self-efficacy to Prevent Intentional Exposure to Pornography (SePIEP) and 10-point RSB scales. Scores ≤9 and >9 were categorised as low and high SePIEP, respectively. Baseline findings were used to design and implement a four-month educational intervention using WhatsApp which was found to be the most commonly used SM platform. Post-intervention survey was conducted after one-month follow-up using the instrument earlier used at the baseline. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square and t-test at α0.05. Respondents’ ages were 21.3±2.7 and 21.4±2.7 years, while males included 61.4% and 70.7% in EG and CG, respectively. At baseline, lifetime AEP was 61.4% and 88.1% in EG and CG, respectively. Recent AEP significantly decreased in the EG from 53.2% to 25.9% between baseline and post-intervention but increased in CG from 36.6% to 47.2% with no significant difference. There was a significant increase in mean knowledge of EEP in EG from 12.9±3.8 to 15.6±4.7, while it remained the same in the CG comparing baseline (13.9±3.6) with post-intervention (13.9±4.4). The EG showed a significant increase in mean score of SePIEP from 9.7±2.8 to 11.5±1.4 while CG decreased from 10.0±2.1 to 9.9±2.0 at follow-up.High SePIEP was 66.3% (EG) and 65.6% (CG) at the baseline and this significantly increased to 93.8% in EG compared with 75.5% in CG at post-intervention. Experience of sexual intercourse in previous three months at the baseline was 57.9% and 47.2% in the EG and CG respectively, and at post-intervention, this significantly decreased to 16.7% in EG compared with 52.4% increase in CG. Mean score on RSB significantly decreased from 4.2±2.6 to 2.4±1.4 in EG while CG increased from 3.7±2.3 to 4.2±2.8, comparing baseline with post-intervention. Social media-delivered-intervention was effective in reducing exposure to pornography and risky sexual behaviours among the respondents in the experimental group. Interventions using social media are therefore recommended for risky reproductive health issues of young persons in Lagos and Oyo States.