This study aimed to investigate the enrollment trends, motivations, and future aspirations of female undergraduate students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses at the Federal University Gusau in Nigeria. A survey design was employed, and a 36-item questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 350 female undergraduate students studying STEM courses at the university. The questionnaire had three sections focusing on demographic information, motivations and future career aspirations of the respondents in STEM fields. The questionnaire was validated and reliability coefficient of 0.72 was obtained using Cronbach alpha. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The results showed that female students' overall enrollment in STEM courses was relatively low. However, there were variations across disciplines, with some courses having as high as 50.70% (Biotechnology) and 49.43% (Microbiology), and as low as 8.36% (Physics), 9.06% (Geology) and 11.06% (Mathematics) of female enrollment. The overall enrollment rose from 23% in the 2014/2015 academic year to 31.4% in the 2019/2020. The study also found that personal interest, background knowledge, and academic success in STEM-related subjects were the key motivators for females to pursue STEM courses. On the other hand, lack of family and community support, lack of confidence in problem-solving, and the need for role models and mentors were significant barriers. It is recommended among others that, universities and policymakers provide more resources and support to female students in STEM fields, such as mentorship programmes, scholarships, and initiatives to promote gender equity.
Background: HIV/AIDS remains a modern-day global burden, killing almost 39 million people with over 36 million living with the disease, and two million new cases annually. The risk of infection in clinical practice among health workers has been noted to be high, compared to the general population. The study therefore seeks to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice of HIV/AIDS prevention among nursing students along the north-eastern corridor of Ghana.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive design with a quantitative approach was employed. Multistage stratified random sampling technique was used to select 373 trainee nurses. A Pearson’s chi-square analysis was performed at 0.20 precision level. Determinants of knowledge, attitude, and practice was established with a multivariate logistic regression at 95% confidence level.Results: Majority of participants had satisfactory knowledge (88.0%), good attitude (87.9%), and good practices (57.6%) towards HIV/AIDS prevention. Students in their final year of the study were 2.3 times more likely to demonstrate good attitudes towards HIV/AIDS prevention than first years (aOR: 2.28; CI: 1.10 – 4.72). Those with sufficient knowledge on HIV/AIDS were 3.5 times more likely to have good attitudes towards its prevention than those with insufficient knowledge levels (aOR: 3.46; 1.76 – 6.77). Conclusion: There are satisfactory knowledge, attitude, and practices among trainee nurses regarding HIV/AIDS prevention in the study setting. Increase access to knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS can improve attitudes towards its prevention. However, there is a need for appraisal of the clinical placement programs of trainee nurses to ensure improved practice. Further studies are needed to ascertain the role of knowledge and attitudes in enhancing practices on HIV/AIDS prevention.
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