A survey of information sources availability, accessibility and utilisation among primary health workers in Osun State, Nigeria.
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Date
2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ambrose Ali University
Abstract
The study examined the information needs of primary health workers in Osun State. It highlighted the most available, accessible and utilised sources of information. It also identified the major barriers to information access of primary health workers in Osun State. The study used both primary and secondary data sources. The primary data were derived from a sample of 186 respondents who filled and returned the questionnaires titled "Information needs, availability. accessibility and utilisation of health workers scale." Data were analysed through the use of percentages, mean, and standard deviation. The secondary sources of data included textbooks and journal articles. The results of the study indicated that the major information needs of primary health workers were on occupational health and safety at work. Others included basic scientific and medical information, health updates and drug information. The findings also showed that the most available information sources were professional colleagues, radio, textbooks, television and newspapers. Furthermore, the most accessible information sources were radio, professional colleagues, textbooks, television and newspapers. The most utilised sources of information in order of importance included radio, professional colleagues, textbooks, television and newspapers. The least utilised sources of information were CD-ROM literature search, abstract I indexes and government I institutional agencies. Finally, the study revealed that the major problems facing health workers in accessing information were difficulty in accessing leading journals and material on health issues, an ill-equipped state of the library, and inadequate access to the Internet.
Description
19p
Keywords
Information needs, Information availability, Information accessibility, Information Utilisation, Primary health workers, Osun state, Nigeria
Citation
Igbeneghu, B.I., Eluwole, O.A. and Adeagbo, O.O. (2016). A survey of information sources, availability, accessibility and utilisation among primary health workers in Osun State, Nigeria. Communicate: Journal of Library and Information Science, 13(1&2):5-20.