1.0 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 messages. 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 disease 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:
- To provide effective health education to pilgrims in their mother tongue at their dormitories in the holy places.
- To 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 enroll 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 healthy behaviour 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 the students 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 transport 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 Problems
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 the pilgrimage 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 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to examine the impact of the role of health educators during pilgrimages in Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were set out;
- 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 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.
This study will be consistent with other 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.
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?
- Do health educators test the Knowledge of pilgrims regarding healthy behaviour before and after a health education intervention?
- Do the heath educators carry out a medical check-up on pilgrims before the pilgrimage?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
The following are the research hypothesis;
Hypothesis One
H0: There is no significant difference between healthy behavior and Knowledge of pilgrims.
H1: There is a significant difference between healthy behavior and Knowledge of pilgrims.
Hypothesis Two
H0: There is no significant relationship between the health educators and medical check-up on pilgrims.
H1: There is a significant relationship between the health educators and medical check-up on pilgrims.
1.7 Scope of the Study
This study will be carried out in Oyo state covering all the Christian pilgrimages from the state pilgrimage board.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this institution to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
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