The impact of an educational intervention on undergraduate students' knowledge, acceptability, and willingness to pay for dapivirine vaginal ring in Nigeria's first indigenous university: a single-arm, non-randomized study

Isah, Abdulmuminu; Ezenri, Gabriel; Obi, Ogechi; Okibe, Nnamdi A.; Ma’aji, Hadiza Usman; Ugochukwu, Ezinwanne J.; Eze, Cynthia C.; Amoke, Chisom M.; Ezeodimegwu, Augustus; Idabor, Charles C.; Abubakar, Mustapha Muhammed; Iloabuchi, Francis; Ugwu, Ikenna John; Asogwa, Chukwuebuka M.; Ukwe, Chinwe V.; Ukoha‑kalu, Blessing Onyinye

Abstract

Background This study aimed to assess the impact of an educational intervention on knowledge, acceptability, and willingness to pay (WTP) for dapivirine vaginal ring (DPV-VR) by undergraduate female students at the University of Nigeria (UNN).

Methods A cross-sectional design was adopted to obtain responses from the respondents using a validated 23-item questionnaire. A sample size of 1500 was estimated from five systematically sampled faculties. Their acceptability was accessed before and after educating them on the dapivirine vaginal ring (DPV-VR). WTP was determined in Naira (N490/$1) using contingent valuation. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the findings, with inter-faculty comparison done with the Chi-squared test.

Results 1017 students responded to the questionnaire. The modal age was 18-24 years (754 [74.1%]), and most of them (886 [87.1%]) were unmarried. More than half of the respondents had tested for HIV (531 [52.2%])), with 3 (1.5%), 3 (1.7%), 2 (0.6%), 2 (1.8%) and 1 (0.5%) student from Arts, Biological Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Social Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine, respectively, having positive results. Only 304 (29.9%) of the students had prior knowledge of DPV-VR. There was about a twofold increase in the acceptability of the dapivirine vaginal ring (DPV-VR) (294 to 596) after the intervention (p ≤ 0.001). Most of the students (466 [45.8%]) indicated that they would be willing to pay < N410.00 for a single dapivirine vaginal ring (DPV-VR).

Conclusions Many of the female students at UNN were willing to use the dapivirine vaginal ring (DPV-VR); even more after they were informed of its importance. Most of the students were willing to pay less than one dollar out-of-pocket for the ring.

Citation

Isah, A., Ezenri, G., Obi, O., Okibe, N. A., Ma’aji, H. U., Ugochukwu, E. J., Eze, C. C., Amoke, C. M., Ezeodimegwu, A., Idabor, C. C., Abubakar, M. M., Iloabuchi, F., Ugwu, I. J., Asogwa, C. M., Ukwe, C. V., & Ukoha‑kalu, B. O. (2025). The impact of an educational intervention on undergraduate students' knowledge, acceptability, and willingness to pay for dapivirine vaginal ring in Nigeria's first indigenous university: a single-arm, non-randomized study. Discover Social Science and Health, 5(1), Article 8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44155-025-00153-0

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 16, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Jan 23, 2025
• Publication Date: Jan 23, 2025
• Deposit Date: Jan 23, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 24, 2025
• Journal: Discover Social Science and Health
• Electronic ISSN: 2731-0469
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 8
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44155-025-00153-0
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/44427245
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44155-025-00153-0
• Additional Information: Received: 27 July 2024; Accepted: 16 January 2025; First Online: 23 January 2025; : ; : Ethical approval to conduct this study was obtained for this study from the Health Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nigeria (Reference Number: FPSRE/UNN/22/0007). No identifier data was collected from the respondents and all information obtained was treated with the utmost confidentiality. Informed consent was obtained from all the respondents after explaining the purpose of the study to them. They were also duly informed that they could withdraw from the study at any point.; : Not applicable.; : The authors declare no competing interests.