Effectiveness of the school-based social and behaviour change communication interventions on insecticide-treated nets utilization among primary school children in rural Ethiopia: a controlled quasi-experimental design

Background School-based behaviour change communication interventions could help to achieve behavioural changes in the school and enhance the enrollment of the students and teachers as health messengers to local communities. Evidence on the impacts of the school-engaged malaria preventive interventions are limited as far as the social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) is concerned. This study examined the effectiveness of the school-based SBCC approach on insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) utilization among primary school students in malaria-endemic settings of Ethiopia. Methods Various participatory, educational, and communication interventions were implemented from 2017 to 2019 in 75 primary schools and respective villages in Jimma to promote malaria preventive practices. A quasi-experimental design was conducted with randomly selected 798 students (i.e. 399 intervention and 399 control groups). Data were collected by trained interviewers using structured questionnaires. The SPSS version 26 software was used to analyse the data. Propensity score matching analysis was performed to control for possible confounding biases. The average effects of the intervention were estimated using multivariate general linear modelling to estimate for mean differences and odds ratio based on the nature of data. Results The result showed that the ITNs utilization was 6.857 folds in the intervention groups compared to the counterpart; (OR = 6.857; 95% CI: (4.636, 10.1430); effect size = 39%). A mean differences (MD) of self-efficacy (MD = 15.34; 95% CI: 13.73 to 16.95), knowledge (MD = 5.83; 95% CI: 5.12 to 6.55), attitude (MD = 6.01; 95% CI: 5.26 to 6.77), perceived malaria risk (MD = 2.14; 95% CI: 1.53 to 2.76), and perceived family supports (MD = 6.39; 95% CI: 5.57 to 7.22) were observed favoring the intervention. Multivariable logistic regression modelling results showed that knowledge (beta = 0.194, 95% CI: 1.09 to 1.35) and perceived family supports (beta = 0.165, 95% CI: 1.11 to 1.25) and self-efficacy (beta = 0.10, 95% CI: 1.22 to 2.32) predicted the ITN utilization among the school children. Conclusions The finding of this study suggested that the school-based SBCC approach combined with peer education activities advanced the malaria-related knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy, risk perceptions, and family supports and ultimately improved the sustained use of ITNs among school-going children. Further research should be conducted to understand the mechanism of these effects given the influences of social, health services, and school systems are considered.