AVAILABILITY AND UTILIZATION OF COUNSELLING SERVICES FOR INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS IN NORTH-CENTRAL, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated availability and utilization of counseling services for internally displaced persons in North-Central, Nigeria. There were three research questions and two hypotheses formulated to guide the study. Design used for the study was descriptive survey. Population of the study comprised 128 counsellors in 128 IDP camps in the North-Central geopolitical zone while 97counsellors were sampled for the study through random sampling technique. Taro Yamane minimum sample size determination technique was used to draw the sample for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a 10 item checklist titled "Available Counselling Services Checklist" and a 10-item questionnaire titled "Utilization of Counselling Services Questionnaire" (UCSQ). The instruments were validated by three experts in Measurement and Evaluation in the Department of Psychology, Guidance and Counselling, University of Port Harcourt. The reliability of the checklist was determined using Kuder Richardson KR-21 with an index of 0.75 while the reliability of the questionnaire was determined using Cronbach Alpha with an index of 0.80. Data for the study was collected by the researcher with the assistance of seven trained Research Assistants. Research question one was answered using percentage while research questions two and three were answered using mean and standard deviation with rank order. The two hypotheses formulated were tested using z-test statistic at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that most counseling services are unavailable for IDPs. It was equally revealed that counseling services are utilized to a low extent. Therefore, the recommended provision of adequate counseling services and resources and the public should equally be enlightened to utilize available services in IDP camps.