Counselling Intervention in the Provision of Psycho-Social Support for Widows: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria

Abstract

Everyone needs adjustment to get along or survive ones social and physical environment. The widows in this part of the world need it more than anyone due to the hardship culture has placed on them. The study examined the psychological and social support being rendered to the widows for adjustment. One hundred and twenty widows were randomly selected within the randomly selected local government areas in Ibadan. Psychosocial Support for Widows Adjustment Questionnaire (PSSWAQ), self –structured, with the validity α=0.74 was administered on 120 widows in six local government areas of Oyo state. Two hypotheses were postulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance, Data were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and t-test. The study revealed that there is a relationship between psychosocial support given widows and adjustment to life. Secondly, the age of the widows did not affect their adjustment with psychosocial support. It was found that psychosocial support can modify the behaviour of the widows when faced with social and environmental challenges. It was also found that the age of the widows does not affect the support they receive from the populace. Therefore, government, familymembers, co-workers, business associate and non- governmental organizations should rally round widows in helping them to get out of their fears, have the ability to adjust, remove stigmatization and reduce the rate in which their children indulge in crime.

Keywords: Psychosocial, Support, Adjustment, Widows.