SOCIAL MEDIA USERS' AWARENESS AND UTILIZATION OF MESSAGES ON SOCIAL COMMUNICATION DISORDER IN SUPPORTING AFFECTED PEOPLE IN SOUTHEAST, NIGERIA

The main objective of this study is to examine the awareness and knowledge level of social media users on social communication disorder in Nigeria. The study was anchored on health belief model and technology determinism theory. The study adopted the survey research method with an estimated population of 4,270,270 social media users in Southeast. Using the Wimmer and Dominick Sample Size Calculator, the researcher arrived at a sample size of 385. Multi-stage and purposive sampling were used to identify the respondents for the study. The instrument for data collection was the questionnaire instrument. Analysis of data indicated that there are more male respondents amounting to 51.7% than female respondents. Further analysis of data also revealed that over 88% of the respondents were of the opinion that their awareness of the prevalence of social communication disorder was low. Findings of this study revealed that at an average mean of 2.02, the knowledge level of respondents on social communication disorder is low. Data analysis revealed that, at an average mean of 2.2 respondent’s knowledge about social communication disorder cannot allow them to provide reasonable support or advice for people with disorder or advice those that have people disorder. It is safe to conclude that the poor knowledge of the people about SCD has made it difficult for them to identify or support or aid those with SCD in their environment. The researcher recommends that people should be encouraged to seek more knowledge on SCD that will guide their perception about the disorder. If the people are sufficiently armed with information on SCD, they will form proper perception about the SCD health.