SOCIAL MEDIA AS A SOURCE OF SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH INFORMATION AMONG YOUNG ADULTS

1.1 Introduction

The concept of sexual and reproductive health has evolved to offer a comprehensive and integrated approach to health needs related to sexuality and reproduction. Sexual and reproductive health is a public health concern, a human rights issue, and is essential for attaining Millennium Development Goals. Social media is the connection of friends or family together which allows one to communicate easily. According to Boyd & Ellison (2008), Social networking sites can be defined as web-based services that allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system (Shensa et al., 2015).

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

In Nigeria, nearly two third (63%) of all adolescent use the internet once a day, and about 73% of them use at least a social network site through their cell phones or other forms of computer (Lenhart et al., 2010). As such, the link between social media and adolescent sexual reproductive behaviour seems clear. The relevance of this study is anchored on the fact that demographic studies on the effects of social media as a factor influencing adolescents’ sexual reproductive behaviour have been very limited in the study area. The second half of the twentieth century witnessed a vast expansion of health technologies and health services to provide people with certain elements of health care related to sexuality and reproduction. The services were, however, fragmented and not oriented to respond to the totality of health needs. Certain elements received disproportionate attention; other elements were relatively neglected. The concept of reproductive health has evolved to offer a comprehensive and integrated approach to health needs related to sexuality and reproduction.

One of the potential benefits of social media sexual health promotion is that it could be used to reach groups who have less access to traditional sources of sexual health information; such as those not at school, than 10% would discuss sexual health with friends using SNS, but more said they would share sexual health tips and information from a health organisation via SMS (35%) or SNS (20%). Just 42% were willing to communicate about sexual health through new media technologies (Divecha et al., 2012). An Australian study found that young people were not comfortable with open sharing of sexual health-related information on Facebook (Byron et al., 2013). Here, we investigate how comfortable young Australians are with accessing sexual health information through various social media platforms, and correlates of this.

Online social networking sites focus on building and reflecting social associations among people who share interests and or activities. With so many social networking sites displayed on the internet, students are tempted to abandon their homework and reading times in preference for chatting online with friends. A lot of people are now addicted to the online rave of the moment, with Facebook, Twitter etc. Today most youths and students possess Facebook accounts.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the rate of sexual initiation and intercourse among young adults is rising (Gupta and Mahy, 2003). This has contributed to nearly two-thirds of the people living with HIV infection in this region (Hindin and Fatusi, 2009). Less wonder, UNAIDS (2004) records that HIV prevalence among adolescents is higher in sub-Saharan Africa than other regions of the world. The worse is, as many adolescents involve in sexual intercourse, they practice it without the use of modern contraceptives or any other methods. According to Khan and Mishra (2008), the unmet need for contraceptive use or other methods among unmarried adolescents in sub-Saharan African is over 40% in many countries compared to 10-31% in Latin America. Within the same sub-Saharan African, report shows that over 20% of 15-19 year old women are pregnant (Paul-Ebhohimhen, Poobalan & Van, 2008).

Therefore, in FCT Abuja where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Social Media as a Source of Sexual and Reproductive Health Information among Young Adults.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that reproductive health implies not only that people have the freedom to decide if, when and how often to have children, but also to have the capability to reproduce. Infertility is a public health and social problem; particularly in societies where children are the only goods a woman is expected to deliver. Sexually transmitted infections are a major public health problem. There are over 30 bacterial, viral and parasitic pathogens that have been identified to date that can be transmitted sexually. Many are untreated because they are difficult to diagnose and because competent, affordable services are lacking. Among other consequences, they can be a leading cause for infertility in women. If cases of mostly incurable viral infections are added, the yearly number of sexually transmitted infections acquired may well exceed 1 billion (Glasier et al., 2006).

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to examine the Social Media as a Source of Sexual and Reproductive Health Information among Young Adults in the FCT. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To examine the effects of social media sexual reproductive health behaviour among Young Adults in the area under study;
2. To examine the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics of youths and social media usage in the area under study;
3. To investigate how youths access sexual health information through various social media platforms; and
4. To investigate the factors inhibiting the access of sexual and Reproductive Health Information among Young Adults in the area under study.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• What are the effects of social media sexual reproductive health behaviour among Young Adults in the area under study?
• How do youths’ access sexual health information through various social media platforms?
• What is the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics of youths and social media usage in the area under study?
• What are the factors inhibiting the access of sexual and Reproductive Health Information among Young Adults in the area under study?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no significant relationship between socio-demographic characteristics of the targets population and social media usage in the area under study
• H1: There is a significant relationship between socio-demographic characteristics of the targets population and social media usage in the area under study

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There are no significant factors inhibiting the access of sexual and Reproductive Health Information among Young Adults in the area under study
• H1: There are significant factors inhibiting the access of sexual and Reproductive Health Information among Young Adults in the area under study

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1.7 Significance of Study

This study will help the youths to know the impact that social media has on their youths, so as to assist them to enlighten and create awareness of Sexual and Reproductive Health Information among youths on the possible influence it has on them. This study will also be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Social Media as a Source of Sexual and Reproductive Health Information among Young Adults in the FCT Abuja.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

Reproductive Health: is a state of complete physical, mental and social well- being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes.