Impact Of The Role Of Health Educators During Pilgrimages In Nigeria

Abstract

This research was conducted to assess the impact of the roles of health educators during Jerusalem pilgrimages. A case study of Oyo state Christians’ pilgrims welfare board. Two (2) hypotheses were formulated for this study, questionnaires was used to gather information. The population of the study comprised of two hundred (200) pilgrims. Simple percentage method was used to analyze the data, while the original draft of the questionnaire was validated by lecturers in the department. Result obtained revealed that health information given to the pilgrims by health practitioners before their departure to Jerusalem significantly affects the health of individual pilgrims, the guidelines given to the pilgrims by the state health educators were significantly useful to the pilgrims and the roles of health educators during Jerusalem pilgrim operations do significantly reduce the rate at which health hazards occur during pilgrimage. It is then recommended that more relevant information should be made available to the pilgrims by the pilgrims welfare board through the media, posters, newspapers etc before leaving their countries, the government should employ more health experts into the pilgrims welfare board to tackle more of the health problems of pilgrims.

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

Health education has been described as a process by which individuals or groups learn to behave in a manner conducive to the promotion, maintenance or restoration of health. Communication in relation to health education involves various modes, e.g. lectures, discussions, symposia, posters, public address, and radio and television mes- sages. Each mode has its own merits, drawbacks and scope of effectiveness. Messages may also have to overcome communication barriers (e.g. physiological, psychological, environmental and cultural). The effectiveness of a particular mode of health education varies according to the setting in which it is delivered to a specific group. It has been observed that different methods may be especially suitable for different groups of people depending upon their age, sex, educational qualification, background and the nature of their employment.

The pilgrimage has become the epicentre of the mass migration of millions of Christians of various ethnic diversities. No other mass gathering can compare in scale or in regularity. The preparedness plans made before the pilgrimage season ensure the optimum provision of health services for pilgrims to jerusalem, and have been set up to minimize dis- ease transmission both during their stay in the country and upon their return home. Health education is one of the principal services provided for pilgrims from their arrival. Health education of pilgrims, through the Health Education Ambassadors (HEA) programme, which was launched as an innovative approach in 1428 AH (2007 CE), is one of the principal activities supporting those plans.

The HEA module aimed at achieving 2 specific objectives:

Provide effective health education to pilgrims in their mother tongue at their dormitories in the holy places.
Encourage medical students to actively take a health education role during the pilgrimage.

Both objectives were achieved through inviting medical and health science students to voluntarily enrol in an HEA team. Volunteers agreed to undergo a training programme focusing on communication skills, the ethics of volunteer work and the important health messages to be delivered to arriving pilgrims. The messages were basically designed to cover issues related to healthybehaviour during the performance of the pilgrimage, for example, personal hygiene, measures protective against infectious respiratory droplets, avoiding exposure to direct sun, and proper ways of using razors. This programme benefited by making use of thestudents who are often fluent in foreign languages in addition to jewish.

In pilgrimage in 1431 AH (2010 CE), the HEA programme was extended to cover pilgrims arriving the main aviation entry port for pilgrims. The messages were delivered to them in the Pilgrim’s City, just outside the pilgrimage terminal, while they waited aboard buses that would trans- port them to the holy places. Challenges to providing the training included the preoccupied state of pilgrims while completing their registration formalities on arrival. During pilgrimage 1432 AH (2011 CE), analysis of passenger flow within Pilgrim’s City showed that loading a bus takes about 4–6 minutes for pilgrims and up to 20–25 minutes for their luggage. This meant that the pilgrims waited in the stationary buses for about 20 minutes while waiting for luggage arrival and loading, prior to departure.

This was determined to be the ideal time to deliver health messages. The HEA volunteers were organized into teams of 2: one volunteer was responsible for conveying messages aided by a pictorial chart while the other distributed a copy of the multilingual health message pictorial leaflet to each pilgrim.

This method of health education was intended to provide more effective health education. The executive committee of the pilgrimage recommended studying this new educational approach to determine its effectiveness.

1.2 Statement of Problem

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health education as;“any combination of learning experiences designed to help individuals and communities improve their health, by increasing their knowledge or influencing their attitudes” and providing opportunities required to make health decisions or change health behaviors such as, hydrating, hygiene, healthy diet and sleep.

Health education is one of the principal services provided for pilgrims from their arrival. It has various modes, e.g. lectures, discussions, symposia, posters …etc. Each mode has its own merits, drawbacks and scope of effectiveness. Messages have to overcome communication barriers (e.g. physiological, psychological, environmental and cultural). The effectiveness of health education modes varies according to the setting in which it is delivered to a specific group.

The pilgrimage living circumstances and activities may create an environment, thus, health issues such as infections, accidents, complication of chronic diseases and climate complications may arise and affect the health &pilgrimage of those pilgrims. The prepared nests plans made before thepilgrimage season ensures the optimum provision of health services for pilgrims, and to minimize disease transmission both during their stay home in the country and upon their return home. Here, we conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the applied health education program to control as much as possible the arising health problems and to updates health requirements for the 2018 pilgrimage, with the result that pilgrims now enjoy modern facilities and perform various rites at ease.

1.3 Objective of the Study

The main objective of this study was to the role of health educators on health knowledge among pilgrim after they had been given specific health education messages.

Specifically this study aims:

To investigate if the health educators plays important role during pilgrimage
To determine if the health educators educate the pilgrims on the right healthy behaviour during pilgrimage
To examine if the health educators test the Knowledge of pilgrims regarding healthy behaviour before and after a health education intervention
To determine if the heath educators carry out a medical check-up on pilgrims before the pilgrimage

1.4 Significance of the Study

This study will be consistent with another studies that showed that using the educational intervention (who depends on volunteers from various medical faculties and health institutes) improved knowledge and practice. Our findings showed significant improvement in the short-term knowledge level among intervention recipients. This effect has been established in previous studies in similar settings the study will recommend that health education-focused programmes should be conducted in small groups, preferably via specific topic lectures.

This study has a major impact on pilgrims as they are the main target of this study. Through this study, pilgrims are exposed to the concept of holistic and integrated assessment which both focuses on the enhancement of wellness.

Through this research, the main aspects of wellness that need to be improved can be identified

Besides that, this study can help pilgrims to be more aware of their heath and pay attention more on the disease prevention. This is to ensure them to achieve good wellness level. Thus, pilgrims will be more responsible towards themselves by putting extra care on their health and wellness.

Finally, this study can expose the pilgrims to the concept of assessment so that they can evaluate and change their attitudes to achieve a better level of wellness and wellbeing.

1.5 Research Questions

The study will attempt to answer the following research questions

The health educators plays important role during pilgrimage?
Do the health educators educate the pilgrims on the right healthy behaviour during pilgrimage?
Does health educators test the Knowledge of pilgrims regarding healthy behaviour before and after a health education intervention?
Does the heath educators carry out a medical check-up on pilgrims before the pilgrimage?

1.6 Scope / Limitation of the Study

This study will be carried out in Oyo state covering all the Christian pilgrimages from the state pilgrimage board.
Our study had the following limitations; the limited time and resources available to conduct the current health education intervention presented a significant limitation.

Chapter Five

Discussion of Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 Discussion of Findings

Result from research question one shows that 150 respondents which represents about 75% of the total population agreed while further 10% strongly agreed and only 10% of the population disagreed. Only 1.5% of the population were uncertain about the importance of heath officers during pilgrimage

Research question two shows that about 82.5% of the respondents agreed that health educators educate on these healthy behaviors while further 10% of respondents strongly agreed and only 5% and 2.5% of the respondents disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively.

Research question three indicated by the above, 50% of the pilgrims agreed that health educators test the Knowledge of pilgrims regarding healthy behaviour before and after a health education intervention and further 10% strongly agreed while 40% and 12.5% of the respondents disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively that health educators test the Knowledge of pilgrims regarding healthy behaviour before and after a health education intervention and only 2.5% of the respondents were not certain

Research question four 90%(180) of the respondents agreed that the heath educators carry out a medical check-up on pilgrims before the pilgrimage while additional 10% strongly agreed to the question and no respondent disagreed. The pilgrims answered that the check up includes testing that they have any contagious disease, test of vital organs and ETC.

The hypothesis one shows that The result from this investigation proved that the health educators plays important role during pilgrimage.

The result from the second hypothesis proved that there is a significant relationship between knowledge of the health educators and pilgrims healthy behaviour.

5.2 Conclusion

Health educational strategy to pilgrims is effective in increasing the level of knowledge to improve the practice to decreases the prevalence of health disorders among pilgrims across years.

5.3 Recommendations

Considerable effort on the part of governmental and private health organizations requires continuous training to face both current and future challenges, tailoring health education programs (messages ,tools ) to overcome the gaps and facing the challenges to manage pilgrimage health hazards.

The HEA programme should continue in the coming pilgrimage seasons with the inclusion of pilgrims at other portals of entry.
A study of wider scope should be planned for the next pilgrimage season.
An additional study would be worth- while to determine whether or not the intervention actually resulted in any change in health among pilgrims during the pilgrimage and in the following weeks, compared with those who did not participate in the intervention, along with the specifics of any diagnosis.
Methods to provide standardized, predeparture, health education to pilgrims scheduled to participate in the pilgrimage should be explored. Health education materials should be prepared in concert with the Ministry of Health.
Consideration should be given to investigating methods of educating those who enter the country using other means of transportation, including ships.

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