Burn -Out as a Psychological Effect of Widowhood in Meru County, Kenya: Comparative Study of Widows and Widowers

Widowhood is a state of losing a spouse through death and has been on the increase in Kenya and all over the world. A spouse’s death is traumatic and affect the widowed persons’ psychological well-being, as they go through the various stages of bereavement. They may become withdrawn, less motivated, become frustrated and isolated which may affect their mental and physical wellbeing when burn-out sets in. There may be adverse effects of widowhood that are psychological since the widowed persons may rate themselves low, have disturbing memories and fatigue after the death of the spouse whom they shared life with. In Meru community, no research has been done on the psychological effects of widowhood yet widowhood is traumatic and a common phenomenon in the community. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the psychological effects of burn-out by comparing widowed men and women in Meru County Kenya. A literature gap exists in Kenya on burn-out of widowed men and women thus motivating the author to come up with such a study. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine burn-out as a psychological effect of widowhood   by comparing widowed men and women in Meru County Kenya.  Ex post facto’s causal-comparative research design was considered appropriate for the study because of comparison of groups. A sample of 384 widowed persons (192 widows and 192 widowers) in four Districts that were purposively selected making a total of 384 respondents. Data was collected by use of questionnaires which were administered to widowed persons and two Focus Group Discussions for widowed persons were held in each of the four selected Districts; one for the widowers and another for widows. Data analysis was done by use of descriptive and inferential statistics. Inferential statistics included t-test which was used to establish whether differences in burn-out as a psychological effect existed between widowed men and women. Descriptive statistics that included frequencies, means and percentages were also used. The findings revealed variations in the widowed persons’ psychological effect of widowhood where widows showed high levels of burn-out than widowers. From the   findings, it is evident that absence of either of the spouse negatively affects the mental and physical wellbeing of the living spouse especially widows. Counselling programmes of widowed persons in the country are needed to assist and empower them especially widows who are not allowed to remarry. It is therefore recommended that the Ministry of gender, religious organisations, service providers and other stakeholders should use such programmes to address psychological needs of widowed persons. Finally, the findings may assist the widowed men and women to cope better psychologically with their state of widowhood which is traumatizing as they attach meaning in life and bring up their families single handedly. Keywords: psychological effect, widowed person, living spouse, widowhood, burn-out, traum

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CURRICULUM CONTENT MANAGEMENT AND TRANSITION OF PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL LEARNERS WITH DISABILITIES TO SECONDARY SCHOOL IN KENYA

Access to quality education and transition from one level to another has been a major focus of the Kenya Government to speed up individual and national development. While the rate of learners transiting from primary to secondary school has been on an upward trend, transition of learners with disabilities has remained low over the years. The Government has established several legal initiatives and mobilized resources to address this challenge. Most recent of these initiatives is introduction of special needs education policy framework of 2009 which among other provisions emphasized review and adaptation of curriculum to suit the disability limitations of learners. Despite the legal mitigations and resource mobilization by the Government, transition to secondary school for learners with disabilities has remained below 30% compared to the typical peers whose transition has been increasing to above 92% currently. This study sought to address the gap by determining the relationship between curriculum content management and transition to secondary school for public primary school learners with disabilities in Kenya. The research employed descriptive research design and a sample of 340 respondents to represent a population of 3210 subjects. The data obtained in the study was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation with the aid of a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21. Findings to the study revealed that curriculum content management had significant impact on transition to secondary school for public primary school learners with disabilities. Special needs education teachers were expected to implement the mainstream primary school curriculum in the special needs classrooms. The lessons time allowed by the Ministry of education was too short to implement the planned lesson content on learners with learning disabilities. The time allocated for exams and language used was unsuitable to the learners. As a result, the learners’ outcomes and transition to secondary school was inhibited. Based on the findings, the study recommends that the Ministry of Education through the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development should establish a curriculum that is adaptable to the disabled learners which will enhance effective planning of teaching-learning activities and addressing learning needs of every disabled learner by the teacher.  Article visualizations

Perceived Effect of Pubertal Developmental Body Changes on Academic Achievement Among Public Primary School Pupils in Sagana, Kirinyaga West Sub-County, Kenya

Pupils in puberty face several challenges that affect their academic achievement. Academic achievement of pupils is also affected as boys and girls in puberty perform dismally. Puberty is a developmental stage for a human being characterized by increased changes in bodies of the young people. The body changes are manifested in emotional, physical and attitude changes that affect their academic performance. During the onset of this period, many young people attending school become affected posing potential risks to optimal academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived effect of pubertal developmental body changes on academic achievement among pupils in Sagana, Kirinyaga West Sub-County, Kenya. This study employed descriptive survey research design that comprises both quantitative and qualitative research procedures used for obtaining information from a large population. The researcher targeted 480 respondents comprising of twelve class teachers and 468 pupils in classes six and seven in six schools. Simple random sampling technique was used to obtain a sample size of 214 pupils from the target population of 468 pupils. The researcher also used purposive technique to obtain a sample of twelve class teachers. The researcher used questionnaires for teachers and pupils as well as achievement records for pupils to collect data. Validity of the instruments was confirmed through expert judgment from the Department of Education at Chuka University. The questionnaires and achievement tests were tested for reliability. Two schools were purposively selected for testing of the instruments using split half method. With a coefficient (α=0.81), the instruments were considered reliable for data analysis. Both qualitative and quantitative data were generated. Computer programme Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 21 was used to analyse quantitative data that generated frequencies and percentages which were presented in Tables and Graphs. For qualitative data, content analysis was used to arrange data into themes. Findings indicating perceived effect of pubertal developmental body changes on academic achievement were established. Findings indicated that girls are affected more than boys in terms of academic performance. Also, the findings revealed that pubertal physical development changes are manifested differently in boys and girls with girls being affected most. This study concluded that while pubertal physical body changes occur in both boys and girls, the manifestation of the changes is more in girls than boys with boys exhibiting fewer effects. The study recommends that more strategies to help girls manage the pubertal changes should be devised as a means of improving their academic performance. The findings of this study will benefit pupils, teachers, NGOs, Ministry of Education and academicians. Perceived Effect, Academic performance, pubertal body development, body changes, primary school pupil DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-35-11 Publication date: December 31st 201

Effects of Imprisonment on Depression among Female Inmates in Selected Prisons in Kenya

This study examined the effects of imprisonment on depression among female inmates in selected prisons in Kenya. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. A sample of 295 respondents was randomly selected to participant in the study. The study utilized semi structured questionnaires, interview schedules and observation guides to collect the desired data. The reliability of the instruments was estimated using Cronbach Alpha Coefficient. The instrument yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.857. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The findings of the study indicated significant effects of imprisonment on depression among the female inmates. The study recommended reevaluation of the prisons’ physical, psychological and social environments to root out depression trigger factors. There was also need for recruitment of professional counselors to counsel the psychologically disturbed inmates. This would conveniently be achieved through partnership with religious institutions and non-governmental organizations that provide such services. Keywords: Imprisonment, Depression, Female Inmate