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BACKGROUND: Graduates’ job performance has become a matter that needs urgent attention. This is because many stakeholders are increasingly becoming interested in understanding the extent schools are able to produce output that meets the yearnings of society. Along these lines, we examined the contributions of alcohol intake to the job performance of higher education graduates while treating mental stress and psychotic experiences as mediators in the nexus. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study's population comprised all the graduates of higher education institutions in Nigeria between 2015 and 2020. Data were collected from a virtual cross-section of 3,862 graduates who self-reported to have taken alcohol in the past. These participants responded to an electronic questionnaire that was mailed to them. The scale content validity for clarity and relevance were 0.90 and 0.88, respectively, while the Cronbach alpha reliability estimate of the instrument is 0.86. RESULTS: Amongst many others, key findings indicate that alcohol intake, mental stress and psychotic experiences jointly made a significant negative contribution to the overall job performance of graduates ( R 2 = 0.256, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.23, 0.28], P = 0.00). Mental stress ( B = −0.09, β = −0.14, z = −4.45, 95%CI [−0.24, −0.05], P = 0.00) and psychotic experiences ( B = −0.26, β = −0.43, z = −8.07, 95%CI [−0.68, −0.16], P = 0.01) have significant negative contributions to graduates’ job performance, respectively. Alcohol intake and mental stress jointly predict the psychotic experiences of graduates ( B = −0.26, β = −0.43, z = −8.07, 95%CI [−0.68, −0.16], P = 0.01). Alcohol intake has a positive contribution to the mental stress of graduates ( R 2 = 0.797, 95%CI [0.77, 0.825], P = 0.01). Mental stress and psychotic experiences jointly mediated the relationship between alcohol intake and graduates’ job performance. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that high intake of alcohol and high levels of mental stress and psychotic experiences significantly reduce graduates’ job performance generally and in specific aspects. Alcohol intake can increase graduates’ job performance to a small extent depending on the amount consumed.

In an attempt to curtail examination malpractice, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has been generating different paper types with a different order of test items in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). However, the permutation of test items may compromise students’ performance unintentionally because constructive suggestions in theory and practice recommend that test items be sequenced in ascending order of difficulty. This study used data collected from a random sample of 1,226 SSIII students to ascertain whether the permutation of test items has any effect on the performance of students in two different subjects (Use of English and Mathematics). The study adopted the Equivalent Groups Quasi-Experimental Research Design with three independent groups. Findings emerged, amongst others, that there is a significant difference in the performance scores of prospective university students’ in use of English and Mathematics examintaions arranged in three different orders (ED, DE, R). There are no significant gender differences in the performance of students in Use of English and Mathematics based on test item permutation. However female students perform better than male students when test items are arranged in ascending order of difficulty while males perform better when test items are arranged in descending order of difficulty. It was concluded that the permutation of test items in UTME examination tends to affect the performance of students in Use of English and Mathematics. This finding has implications for the future conduct of UTME examinations and enrolment into higher education as the randomization of UTME test items changes the difficulty order of different paper types. It was recommended that other measures of curtailing examination malpractices that would not affect students’ academic performance should be adopted.

Introduction:Research has documented the prevalence of different HIV/AIDS prevention programs launched to reduce the spread of the virus. However, the extent to which the success or otherwise of these programs are achieved is rarely discussed. This study addresses this gap by analyzing the impact of three socioeconomic parameters on the evaluation of HIV/AIDS prevention programs in the Southern Senatorial District of Cross River State, Nigeria.Methods: A sample of 239 health care employees selected using the proportional stratified random sampling technique participated in the study. A priori power analysis (using G*power) indicated that the sample size was large enough to achieve a 96.7% statistical power. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis assessed the dimensionality of the instrument. Acceptable construct and discriminant validity and composite reliability coefficients were obtained. At the .05 alpha level, the null hypotheses were tested using a one-way analysis of variance.Findings: Findings indicated that the evaluation of HIV/AIDS prevention programs significantly varied with the level of funding provided (F[2, 236]=81.11, p<.001), human capacity available (F[2, 236]=40.91, p<.001), and stigmatization to people living with AIDS (F[2, 236]=40.79, p<.001). Health facilities with higher funding and human capacity successfully evaluated HIV/AIDS prevention programs. However, the evaluation of HIV/AIDS prevention programs was lower in areas with a high level of stigmatization. Conclusion and implication:This study's findings provided evidence that funding, human capacity, and stigmatization affect how HIV/AIDS pandemic can be effectively evaluated. This study implies that additional responsibility is required for public health workers to promote quality service delivery across different health facilities.

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