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Impact of Health Facility Open Days on Awareness of Available Diagnostic Services among Residents in Nigeria

Abstract

Awareness of available diagnostic services is important for timely healthcare utilization, early detection of disease, appropriate referral, and informed decision-making among community members. In Nigeria, residents may have limited knowledge of the diagnostic services available at nearby healthcare facilities, including blood tests, urine tests, blood pressure assessment, blood glucose testing, malaria testing, imaging services, cervical cancer screening, and other diagnostic procedures. Limited awareness may result in underutilization of available services, delayed diagnosis, unnecessary referrals, and missed opportunities for early intervention. Health facility open days provide an opportunity for healthcare facilities to invite members of the public to visit the facility, interact with healthcare workers, learn about available services, observe service points, and obtain information about diagnostic procedures and access requirements. Against this background, this study investigates the impact of health facility open days on awareness of available diagnostic services among residents in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Health Literacy Framework, Health Belief Model, and Social Ecological Model. The Health Literacy Framework emphasizes residents' ability to access, understand, evaluate, and apply information about healthcare and diagnostic services. The Health Belief Model explains how perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and cues to action may influence awareness and willingness to utilize diagnostic services. The Social Ecological Model recognizes the influence of individual, interpersonal, community, healthcare-facility, and environmental factors on access to health information and healthcare utilization. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how health facility open days may influence awareness of available diagnostic services among residents in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise adults aged 18 years and above residing in selected communities surrounding participating healthcare facilities across Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, local government areas, healthcare facilities, surrounding communities, households, and eligible participants. Health facility open days will be assessed using indicators such as frequency of open-day activities, attendance, duration, public notification, availability of facility tours, interaction with healthcare workers, demonstrations or explanations of diagnostic services, availability of information materials, language accessibility, opportunities for questions, and information about service costs, operating hours, preparation requirements, and referral procedures. Awareness of available diagnostic services will be assessed using indicators such as knowledge of laboratory testing, blood and urine investigations, malaria testing, blood glucose testing, blood pressure assessment, HIV and hepatitis screening, cancer screening, imaging services, pregnancy testing, diagnostic referral services, and other relevant services available at participating facilities. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, diagnostic-service awareness assessment tools, open-day attendance registers, health facility service directories, information materials, participant interviews, and relevant facility records. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize participants' characteristics, exposure to open-day activities, and diagnostic-service awareness scores. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analysis, and logistic or multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the impact of health facility open days on awareness of available diagnostic services. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, awareness scores before and after participation in open-day activities may be compared with those of residents in a comparison community or facility catchment area to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that health facility open days have a significant positive impact on awareness of available diagnostic services among residents in Nigeria. Residents who participate in health facility open-day activities are expected to demonstrate greater knowledge of available diagnostic services, their purposes, locations, operating procedures, preparation requirements, and appropriate points of access than residents without comparable exposure. Direct interaction with healthcare workers may enable residents to ask questions and clarify misconceptions about diagnostic procedures. Facility tours, demonstrations, visual materials, and explanations provided in commonly understood languages may further improve understanding and recall. Increased awareness may encourage residents to seek appropriate diagnostic services when symptoms occur or when routine screening is recommended. However, inadequate publicity, low attendance, transportation barriers, language differences, poor organization, insufficient healthcare workers, limited diagnostic capacity, and information that does not accurately reflect available services may reduce effectiveness. The study therefore expects well-organized, regularly publicized, accessible, and community-oriented health facility open days to contribute significantly to improved awareness of diagnostic services in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on health facility open days, diagnostic-service awareness, health literacy, healthcare utilization, health communication, community engagement, diagnostic access, and public health in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, state ministries of health, hospital management boards, primary healthcare authorities, healthcare facility managers, laboratory scientists, radiographers, nurses, doctors, community health workers, development partners, and policymakers regarding strategies for improving public awareness of diagnostic services. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for strengthening health facility open-day programmes, improving public notification and community mobilization, developing clear diagnostic-service information materials, providing guided facility tours, using local languages, involving healthcare professionals in public education, and linking open-day activities with accessible and adequately equipped diagnostic services across Nigeria.

Keywords: Health facility open days, diagnostic services, health awareness, diagnostic-service utilization, health literacy, community engagement, healthcare utilization, health communication, diagnostic access, Nigeria, public health.