Browsing by Author "Awotidebe, Adedapo"

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    Factors contributing to the risk of HIV infection in rural school-going adolescents
    (MDPI, 2014) Awotidebe, Adedapo; Phillips, Julie
    The objective of this study was to determine the factors that increase the risk of HIV infection in rural school-going adolescents and young adults. This was a cross-sectional study of 430 secondary school students (47.4% boys and 52.6% girls) from two rural schools in South Africa. Data were collected with a self-administered questionnaire on demographic information, sources of HIV/AIDS information, HIV knowledge, sexual behaviors, communication and negotiation skills, self-efficacy to refuse sex, peer influence and time perspective. Out of 113 (27.2%) participants who reported being sexually active, about 48% reported having had sex before the age of 15 and 42.2% reported penetrative sex with more than one partner in their lifetime. Only 44.8% of them reported consistent and regular use of condoms for every sexual encounter. Peer influence (OR = 3.01 (95% CI = 1.97-4.60)), gender difference (OR = 6.60 (95% CI = 1.62-26.84)) and lack of HIV information (OR = 1.22 (95% CI = 1.03-1.44)) influenced the sexual risk behaviors of the adolescents. Greater numbers of school-going adolescents in rural areas are sexually active. Peer influence, especially in boys, is a factor that increases the preponderance of risky sexual behaviors in adolescents. Positively, adolescents with high knowledge of HIV infection are more likely to use condoms for every sexual encounter. There is a need to strengthen comprehensive sexual health education and youth-friendly HIV prevention strategies to promote abstinence and safe sexual behaviors, especially among boys.
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    The influence of the social environment on youth physical activity
    (AFAHPER-SD, 2015) Phillips, Julie; Awotidebe, Adedapo
    Research has highlighted the decline of physical activity during the last twenty years and identified adolescence as the age of the greatest decline. Despite the fact that the benefits of physical activity have been proven, many children and youth do not meet the current guidelines for sufficient physical activity. There are however various factors that influence physical activity levels amongst the youth and researchers have highlighted the links between environmental conditions and health-related behaviours such as physical inactivity. Therefore an increased emphasis exists on the role of the social and physical environment as key modifiable determinants of physical activity. The aim of this study is thus to explore the social environmental factors that influence the physical activity participation among female schoolgoing adolescents in the Western Cape. Focus group discussions were held with 55 school-going adolescents in a selected community in the Western Cape. The discussions yielded four (4) themes: safety; financial constraints, competing responsibilities and parental support. These themes highlighted that physical activity participation was influenced by the social, economic and physical environments that these adolescents live in. Opportunities to be physically active in an enjoyable and comfortable environment are undoubtedly essential for all girls. Therefore appropriate activity interventions taking into consideration issues related to social support, safety and cost-effectiveness of activities are more likely to effectively engage and sustain participation in physical activity.
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    Knowledge and attitudes of physiotherapy students towards obesity
    (AOSIS, 2009) Phillips, Julie; Awotidebe, Adedapo
    Obesity has been recognised as a risk factor for non-communicable diseases, with more than one billion adults worldwide who are overweight, of which approximately 300 million are obese. Obesity puts an individual in danger of a shorter life expectancy and at risk for developing chronic diseases of lifestyle, which include diabetes, cardiovascular disease and musculoskeletal disorders such as arthritis and back pain. Widespread negative attitudes towards obese people have been observed which are equally prevalent among health care professionals. This study was based on the need to determine the knowledge and attitudes towards obese people among physiotherapy students, as they are well suited to address the intricacies of obesity and its related conditions. One hundred and seventy-five students from a university in the Western Cape, South Africa, completed a structured, self-administered questionnaire that was adopted from the Obesity Risk Knowledge and Fat Phobia Scale. The study sample demonstrated average levels of knowledge regarding obesity with scores ranging from 3 to 9 on a scale of 10 with a mean score of 6.05. An overwhelming majority of the participants (> 80%) viewed obesity as largely a behavioural problem while nearly all the participants (97.6%) characterised obese people as lazy, unattractive, insecure and with lower self-esteem. This study has reinforced the need for a more focussed approach to the education of physiotherapy students around obesity and obesity-related conditions, as well as the management thereof.
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    The outcomes of a sport-based intervention on risky sexual behaviours among rural school-going adolescents
    (AFAHPER-SD, 2014) Awotidebe, Adedapo; Monyeki, Andries; Phillips, Julie; Lens, Willy
    The spread of HIV infection in sexually active adolescents and young adults has been attributed to the increasing risky sexual behaviours including early sexual activity, multiple sexual partnership, and irregular condoms use in this population. There are increasing calls to scale up youth-friendly HIV prevention programmes to assist youth in adopting safe sexual behaviours. The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a 12-week sports-based HIV prevention programme on the HIV-risk reduction outcomes among rural high school learners. Participants are 430 learners representing 250 learners in the intervention school and 180 learners in the control school respectively. The intervention was delivered in school using the Grassroot Soccer generation skills curriculum consisting of soccer-themed HIV prevention activities including knowledge about HIV risks, self-efficacy to be abstinent and resist peer pressure. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA conducted to compare risk behaviour reduction outcomes at Time 1 (prior to the intervention), Time 2 (following the 12-week intervention) and Time 3 (four-month follow up) showed improvement in HIV knowledge [F (2) = 72.57, p = 0.000], self-efficacy [F (2) = 6.63, p = 0.002] and negotiation skills [F (2) = 4.07, p = 0.02]. Logistic regression analysis comparing risk reduction outcomes between intervention and control group showed statistically significant difference only on self-efficacy scores [β = 1.43 (95% CI: 1.07-1.92); p = 0.018]. There were no significant findigns regarding effect of sport-based HIV prevention programmes on risky sexual behaviours in rural school-going adolescents. The potential effect of the intervention on improvement of HIV knowledge, self-efficacy to refuse sex and negotiation skills for safe sex indicated that sport-based HIV prevention programmes could be used to modify risky sexual behaviours in South African adolescents and young adults.