| Abstract: |
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) constitute a growing public health
burden in Nigeria, and market traders in Southeast Nigeria are a
particularly vulnerable occupational group owing to sedentary
routines, poor dietary habits, and chronic work-related stress. This
study examined the influence of the Nigerian Heart Foundation's
(NHF) community outreach programmes as a behavioural change
communication (BCC) strategy for promoting cardiovascular
health lifestyle adherence among market traders. Anchored on the
Theory of Planned Behaviour, the Transtheoretical Model, and the
Ecological Model of Health Behaviour, the study adopted a survey
research design. A sample of 384 traders was proportionally drawn
from the Ariaria International Market (Aba), the Onitsha Main
Market (Anambra), and the Ogbete Main Market (Enugu) using
Dusick's (2014) sample size formula and a multistage accidental
sampling procedure. Data were collected with a structured
questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics and Chisquare tests of association at the 0.05 level of significance. Findings
revealed that 62.0% of respondents reported high to very high
awareness of cardiovascular risks attributable to NHF outreach, and
that outreach exposure was significantly associated with
awareness, effectiveness of communication, and adoption of
lifestyle changes such as healthier diets (42.9%), reduced salt
intake (38.6%), and regular exercise (29.6%). Persistent barriers
included time constraints (56.8%) and the cost of healthy food
(49.7%). All four null hypotheses were rejected. The study
concludes that community outreach is an effective, contextsensitive BCC strategy for cardiovascular health promotion among
informal-sector workers and recommends sustained, segmented,
and follow-up-oriented outreach models. |
