Perception and Attitude to Family Life Education among Parents in Osun State, Nigeria

Background: Parents and guardians are important stakeholders in disseminating information about family life education (FLE) to their children. This study was carried out to assess the perception and attitude to FLE among parents and guardians in Osun State Nigeria.

Methods: The study, carried out between July and August, 2010, among parents and guardians in Egbedore Local Government Area (LGA), Osun State, Nigeria, employed a cross-sectional descriptive design. A pre-tested, self-administered, semi-structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from 400 parents who were recruited by multi-stage sampling method. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 17.

Results: The mean age of respondents was 42.4 ± 11.4 years; 52.0% were Christians while 43.5% were Muslims. Overall, 54.3% of the respondents had good perception of FLE while 45.7% had poor perception; 72.0% of the respondents had positive attitude to FLE while 28.0% had a negative attitude. There was a statistically significant association between religion, education, occupation and FLE perception and a statistically significant association between parental status, education, occupation and attitude to FLE (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Parents in Egbedore LGA of Osun State had good perception of and positive attitude to FLE. Parents should be encouraged to translate these positive dispositions into action by teaching their children about FLE.