The study assessed effectiveness of nursing intervention in improving knowledge and practice of commercial waste handler about waste handling.
This one group pretest-posttest quasi experimental was carried out among commercial waste handlers in Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State. Eighty five waste handlers participated in the study. Three sectioned structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The waste handlers were trained by the researcher using WHO training manual for waste handlers. Ethical approval was sought and gained from appropriate ethical review board. Both descriptive (mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentages) and inferential (t-test and ANOVA) statistics were used for data analyses.
Findings revealed the mean age of the waste handlers was 38.08±8.51 years, more male (65.9%) waste handlers participated in the study. A good number of the waste handlers had more primary level of education (44.7%) with mean years of experience of 11.33±4.51. Knowledge of the participants about waste handling significantly increased from 33.45±6.64 pre-intervention to 36.04±6.2 post-intervention (t = -7.64, p =0.01). Also practice of waste handling improved significantly from 26.74±5.94 pre-intervention to 30.93±4.06 post-intervention (t = -9.53, p = 0.01). There is significant relationship between waste handlers level of education and their knowledge pre (f= 4.88, p = 0.01) and post (f = 4.18, p = 0.01) nursing intervention. Also there is no significant relationship between gender and practice of waste handling, pre and post intervention (p > 0.05)
Nursing intervention was effective in improving the knowledge and practice of commercial waste handlers about waste handling.