ABSTRACT
This study was designed to examine the knowledge, awareness and attitudes of University of Benin students towards diabetes. To guide this study, three research questions were raised and answered. The descriptive survey research design was employed in the study. A self structured questionnaire was the instrument for the study. The sample of the study was 200 drawn from the 47,468 students in the University of Benin, Edo State. The instrument was validated by the supervisor and two other experts in the field of the research study. The reliability of the instrument was established using the split-half method of reliability.
The findings of this study revealed that the respondents are aware about the causes of diabetes, respondents have adequate attitudes towards diabetes, respondents believe that sedentary lifestyles such as excessive drinking of alcohol and smoking can cause diabetes, respondents are aware that individuals with a family history of diabetes can become diabetic and that respondents believe that making good effort to control the risks of diabetes mellitus makes one less likely to come down with the disease.
It was thus recommended that students should be sensitized on diabetes, especially the functionality of insulin in the human body, the risk of insufficient or excessive insulin in the body, the school management should ensure that health education and awareness about the causes of diabetes is provided constantly to reinforce the awareness in students who are aware and those who are not aware thereby boosting students’ knowledge about their health, families should ensure that their children are well enlightened on the importance of Diabetes knowledge and how it affects them as individuals and inter-sectoral collaborations from private sectors and interventions should be developed to provide diabetes self management education readily available around the school community and to promote positive health seeking behaviours among the students.
