Research Assistants
Six research assistants (final year student nurses) trained by the researchers assisted in data collection from the selected health institutions. All the research assistants received training on the areas they were to assist in the study. Each item in the questionnaire was explained to them and the need to maintain objectivity was emphasized. The training of research assistants lasted for two weeks.The study participants were shared into groups of not more than 25 persons/group for easy administration of the questionnaire as well as education of intervention group participants. Each group of study participants was invited to the clinic on a particular day in the week for pre-intervention data collection. Pretest data were collected from study participants (both experimental and control group) who met the inclusion criteria, using the English version of the questionnaire. However, a specialist in the native language (Igbo language), who was earlier trained on the purpose of the study, was involved in translating the questionnaire for non-literate participants. Pretest data collection lasted for 6weeks.