Establishing Teachers Views about the Prevalence of Adolescent Health Risk Behaviors in Secondary Schools in Nairobi County, Kenya

Aim: In recent times, researchers in the field of education have shown keen interest in the area of adolescent problem behavior. There is need to recognize the teacher’s role in handling these behaviors. This study was aimed at laying a basis for further research that focuses on the teacher’s role. The objective of this study was therefore, to establish teachers’ views about the prevalence of health risk behaviors (bullying, pre-marital sex and drug/substance abuse) among adolescent learners.

Methodology: A descriptive survey research design and a stratified random sampling were used in the study. The population of the study comprised of 1,824 secondary school teachers in Nairobi County, Kenya. From this a sample of 364 teachers was drawn (103 males, 261 females). A questionnaire was used to obtain information from the respondents while data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results were presented using a table.

Results: Results for the occurrence of the health risk behaviors include: Bullying – Always 0.3%, Often 15.7%, Sometimes 19%; Early Sex - Always 9.6%, Often 29.l4%, Sometimes 47.5% and Never 5.8%; Drug/Substance abuse: Always 6.9%, Often 34.9% Sometimes 42.9% and Never 8.5%. Occurrence in descending order include: pre-marital sex, 94.2%, drug/substance abuse 91.5% and bullying 89%. Occurrence of health risk behaviors sometimes was higher than often, always and never.

Conclusion: The health risk behaviors under study occur in majority of the schools. Premarital sex had the highest prevalence while the report of the behaviors occurring sometimes was the highest. The findings form a basis for understanding the gravity of the health risk behaviors among adolescent learners. The data may also be used to infer the teachers’ ability to control the health risk behaviors . This will form a basis for policy. More attention should be given to teachers’ ability to handle adolescent involvement in pre-marital sex.