EFFECTS OF RECREATION EDUCATION INTERVENTION PROGRAMME ON HEALTH BENEFITS OF RECREATION AMONG STUDENTS OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN OWERRI ZONE

Abstract

This study was aimed at determining the effects of recreation education intervention programme on health benefits of recreation among students of tertiary institutions in Owerri zone. The study adopted pre-test post-test control quasi-experimental design. The instrument used for data collection was self-structured questionnaire which yielded a reliability co-efficient of 0.87. The sample size for the study was 300 students of tertiary institutions in Owerri zone. The multistage sampling technique was adopted for the study. The inferential statistics of two-way ANOVA was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that recreation education intervention programme had effects on perceived health benefits of recreation among students of tertiary institutions in Owerri zone. Perceived physical benefit F-ratio is 54.022, p>0.05, while perceived emotional health benefits F-ratio is 77.864, p<0.05. Based on the results it was concluded that recreation education intervention programme had significant effects on the physical, social and emotional health benefits among students of tertiary institutions in Owerri zone. Part of the recommendations was that efforts should be made by the school authorities to always organize recreation programmes as this will go a long way in creating awareness on the health benefits of recreation among students. This will in turn create the urge to always recreate for optimum health by students.