Adibe M.O., Udeogaranya P.O and Ubaka C.M
Aim: Aim of this study was to assess the level of awareness of NHIS activities among employees of a Nigerian university. Methods: The study was conducted among the employees of University of Nigeria, Nsukka. A 30-question consisting of 5 points response scale was developed for the survey questionnaire. On the 5-point scale, ‘5’ represented the highest mean score while ‘1’ represented the lowest mean score. On the 30-question questionnaire the lowest possible score would be 30 while the highest possible score would be 150. Total awareness mean score above a logical neutral point which was assumed to be 90 i.e. midpoint between 30 and 150, correlates with being aware and vice versa. Levels of awareness were categorised priori: summated mean awareness scores below 90 were considered to be unaware, ‘>90 to 110’ - marginally aware, ‘> 110 to 130’ - moderately aware, and ‘> 130 to 150’ - highly aware of NHIS activities, since high summated score correlates with high level of awareness. Results: A response rate of 87.2% (436 out of 500 questionnaires) was obtained. Awareness was significantly associated with all the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Following summation, the sub total awareness mean scores for objectives of the scheme, responsibilities of the scheme and powers of the scheme council were 32.73 ± 2.16, 34.22 ± 2.48 and 33.27 ± 3.38 respectively while the grand total awareness mean was 100.22 ± 8.02. Conclusion: This study revealed that employees of university of Nigeria were marginally aware of NHIS activities. Demographic characteristics played considerable role on level of awareness of NHIS activities.
