Quantitative endline results from a study of SKILLZ Guyz among adolescent boys in Nigeria

Brief Summary

Background

Adolescent boys in Nigeria face significant gaps in sexual and reproductive health education, and high rates of gender-based violence. Addressing these gaps is essential for HIV prevention and promoting gender equality.

What Grassroot Soccer did

Grassroot Soccer implemented SKILLZ Guyz, a sport-based program delivered by trained male coaches, among over 250 in-school and out-of-school adolescent boys in Nigeria over five months.

What the study found

On surveys, participants showed meaningful improvements in HIV knowledge, pregnancy and contraception knowledge, gender-equitable attitudes, self-efficacy, and self-esteem from before to after the program. Rates of violence against female partners were notably high at baseline, underscoring the need for this work.

Why this matters

SKILLZ Guyz shows promise as an approach to improving health knowledge and shifting harmful gender norms among adolescent boys, a population that is often overlooked in health programming. These findings support broader evaluation and scale-up across other settings.

DETAILED SUMMARY

Importance

There is a gap in addressing the unique sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescent boys and men. Addressing this gap is critical to preventing HIV, improving gender equality, and reducing violence among adolescent boys and young men in Nigeria.

Objective

To evaluate whether SKILLZ Guyz improves knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs related to sexual and reproductive health, HIV, gender equity, and positive identity formation among in-school and out-of-school adolescent boys over a 5 month period in Nigeria.

Study details

Study design: Mixed methods study (no control group)
Data collection tools: Pre- and post-questionnaires; 2 focus group discussions with Coaches; 8 key informant interviews with YEDI program staff
Participants: 140 in-school youth participants (mean age: 14.68 years) and 118 out-of-school youth participants (mean age 16.06 years), Coaches, program staff
Implementation setting: Nigeria
Study period: February–July 2018

Intervention

SKILLZ Guyz: Ten 90-minute sessions delivered by male Coaches once or twice a week aiming to shift gender norms that have negative health impact for adolescents, such as perpetration and experience of violence.

Results

23.6% of in-school participants and 43.1% of out-of-school participants reported ever having sex at baseline
There was high perpetration of violence against female partners: psychological violence (68.2% in-school, 83.8% out-of-school) and physical violence (62.7% in-school, 75.0% out-of-school)
There were statistically significant pre-to-post percent increases (p=0.05): HIV knowledge (17.5%), pregnancy and contraceptive knowledge (18.2%), self-efficacy (22.7%), self-esteem (9.8%), and gender equitable attitudes (16.7%)

Conclusions and implications

SKILLZ Guyz shows promise in improving HIV knowledge, gender-equitable attitudes, and self-efficacy among adolescent boys both in-school and out-of-school, supporting further evaluation in other geographies

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Citation

Year: 2019

Authors: Akanegbu C, Lee D, Miller S, Ivagba O, Clowes A, Coakley C

Akanegbu C, Lee D, Miller S, Ivagba O, Clowes A, Coakley C. Addressing adolescent boys' unique sexual and reproductive health needs in Nigeria: findings from a sport-based programme evaluation [poster]. Presented at: 13th International Conference on HIV Treatment, Pathogenesis, and Prevention Research in Resource-Limited Settings (INTEREST); 2019 May 14-17; Accra, Ghana.