Addo, Doris Elemi and Agba, Peter Ukwondi
Abstract
The essence of this study was to determine the extent to which awareness strategies influence attitude of residents towards sewage disposal in Calabar Education Zone of Cross River state. To achieve this purpose, two research questions were developed and converted into two null hypotheses, which guided the study. The research design considered useful for the study was the survey design. The projected population of the study comprised of 1,5900,200 people. The stratified random sampling technique was adopted in selecting five local government areas. Proportional sampling of 10% of communities sampled was 42 communities while accidental sampling was adopted in selecting the 420 respondents used for the study. A questionnaire titled awareness strategies and attitude towards sewage disposal questionnaire (ASASDQ) which contained 22 items designed with four point modified Likert scale was the instrument used for data collection. It was also tested for reliability using Cronbach alpha method and the analyses obtained were between 72 to 81. The statistical tools employed for data analysis was simple linear regression. The results of these analyses revealed that there is low utilization of folktale as an awareness strategy in changing attitude of residents towards sewage disposal in the study area while electronic media shows significant influence on attitude of residents towards sewage disposal. Based on these findings, it was recommended that folktale should be used as it reflects cultural heritage of people values, attitude, belief, custom and tradition through education to preserve cultural environment. Folktales express emotion in a socially approved manner by creating tales that are realistic, using symbolic and metaphoric projection toward an issue like sewage disposal.