IMPACT OF COVID-19 LOCKDOWN ON MENTAL HEALTH OF SCHOOL COUNSELLORS IN EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to examine the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on the mental health of school counsellors in secondary school in Edo state. Specifically, the study seeks to determine the state of mental health of school counsellors before and after the emergence of Covid-19 outbreak and to determine the impact of Covid-19 lockdown on the mental health of school counsellors based on gender, years of experience and age. The design of the study is a descriptive survey research design. The population of this study comprised all school counsellors in Edo state. Presently, there are one hundred and sixty-two (162) school Counsellors in Edo State, Nigeria. The study sampled one hundred and sixty-two (162) counsellors in Edo State. A structured questionnaire that is titled: impact of Covid-19 Lockdown on Mental Health of School Counsellors in secondary schools in Edo State (ICLMHCQ) was designed by the researcher for the study. The data collected was analysed using the descriptive statistics of the mean and standard deviation to answer all the research questions, the paired sample t-test was used to test hypothesis one, the students’ independent t-test was used to test hypothesis two while One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test hypotheses three and four. The findings of the study revealed that there is a significant difference between mental health of school counsellors before and after the emergence of Covid-19; there is no significant impact of Covid-19 lockdown on the mental health of school counsellors based on gender; there is no significant impact of Covid-19 lockdown on the mental health of school counsellors based on years of experience; and there is a significant impact of Covid-19 lockdown on the mental health of school counsellors based on age. Based on the findings, the study recommends that the government should introduce training and re-training for counsellors especially the younger counsellors to equip them in handling possible future occurrences of same or similar disasters. Also Government and the counselling association should create awareness amongst the male gender to encourage more males into the counselling profession. The counselling association should encourage group interactive session between the young and older counsellors in order to allow the older counsellors share their experiences, .the government should put more efforts in normalizing educational activities as a sector using the secondary school counsellors to strike a balance between their mental health and their jobs in the schools in ensuring that school works are going on normally as it was before the emergence of Covid-19.