Teachers' health literacy and its influence on pupils’ health-related knowledge in selected primary schools in Morogoro municipality, Tanzania
Loading...
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sokoine University of Agricurture
Abstract
Despite efforts by the government in Tanzania involving numerous stakeholders to
improve health literacy (HL), there exists low and problematic HL. The extent to which
influential stakeholders in health promotion, socialisation agents, and schools inclusive,
have been involved is not empirically known. The schools are considered capable to
promote HL and health-related knowledge (HRK) hence healthier lives. It is in this
context that the study assessed teachers’ HL, and the extent it has influenced HRK on
pupils. A cross-sectional research design was adopted, data were collected from 939
respondents through a questionnaire survey, focus group discussions, and key informant
interviews. Descriptive and inferential analyses were done using IBM - SPSS (v20).
Results show that all teachers had high HL, while 89.1% (95% CI: 86.8 to 91.2) and
10.9% (95% CI: 8.8 to 13.2) of the pupils had low HRK, and moderate HRK respectively.
No significant association between pupils’ HRK and teachers’ HL was observed with a p-
value of 0.108. Environments and pupils’ inspections 50.3% (95% CI: 82 to 108), health
education provision (25.9%; 95% CI: 38 to 61); the presence of learning materials 23.8%
(95% CI: 34 to 57) were SBEs found. Determinants of HL in schools included: radios,
televisions, and newspapers 40% (95% CI: 105 to 165), participation in community health
programmes 17% (95% CI: 38 to 75), receiving health-related training 11% (95% CI: 27
to 49), frequency visiting the medical doctors 21% (95% CI: 45 to 86, and discussions
with friends on health issues 11% (95% CI: 28 to 50). Inadequate time for health
education 38.6% (95% CI: 52 to 94), insufficient health materials 28% (95% CI: 46 to
71), shortage of health seminars 19.0% (95% CI: 26 to 47), and insufficient fund for
health promotion 14.4% (95% CI: 16 to 42) were among the challenges facing HL
promotion in schools. Enhancing health education can support efforts to influence HRK
which is still low in schools. It is recommended that in promoting HL and HRK
stakeholders should support SBEs to influence HL in schools.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Teachers' health literacy, Pupils’health-related knowledge, Morogoro municipality, Tanzania, Primary schools