Stress level of Nigerian widows and rehabilitative counselling as an agenda for sustainable democratic society
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Date
2000
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Counselling Association of Nigeria (CASSON)
Abstract
The paper examined the stress levels of Nigerian widows on the basis of three independent variables of age at bereavement, educational level, and duration of bereavement. The sample consisted of 865 widows purposively drawn from the three major ethnic groups of Nigeria namely; Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. The stress rating scale for widows (SRSW) developed by the researchers, was administered to the widows in their offices, meeting places, religions gatherings and their homes respectively. Frequency counts, simple percentages and analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistics were used for data analysis. The results showed that majority of the widows had moderate (medium level) experience of stress s(59.9/5) while only 29.9%and 10/3% of them experience low and high levels of stress respectively. No significant differences in stress levels on the basis of age, educational level and duration of bereavement was found. It was concluded from the findings that widowhood practices in Nigeria result in stress for the widows. On the basis of the findings, useful recommendations were made to government with a strong suggestion for the establishment of a National Commission for Widowhood Affairs so as to provide a basis for poorer rehabilitation serves, and as a way of building a truly democratic society.
Description
The paper examined the stress level of widows and the support system available to them as well as the implication for building an integrative society.
Keywords
Stress Level, Widows, Widowhood, Counselling
Citation
The Counsellor