AWARENESS OF ABORTION AMONG FEMALE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES IN OYO STATE: COUNSELLING AND SOCIAL POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

Female secondary school students in Nigeria experience mild to severe complications as a result of circumstances that may be related to their level of awareness of safe abortion. Studies on awareness of abortion and factors associated with awareness of safe abortion are limited, notably among secondary school students with learning disabilities in Southwestern Nigeria. Therefore, this study investigated the awareness of abortion among female secondary school students with learning disabilities. The counselling and social policy implications of knowledge of abortion on education stakeholders were also highlighted. The study employed a descriptive research method. A multistage sampling procedure was adopted. Random sampling technique was used to select four secondary schools located within Oyo West Local Government Area of Oyo State. Thereafter, 200 female secondary school students with learning disabilities within the age range of below 15–20 years and above were purposively selected from the four selected secondary schools. Data were collected using two instruments namely, Screening Checklist for Suspected Learning Disabilities by Herriot (2004) (r = 0.81) and a researcher designed Questionnaire on Female Students’ Awareness of Abortion (r = 0.74). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts, percentages and means. The result revealed that the majority of female secondary school students with learning disabilities 183 (91.5%) had above average level of awareness of abortion. Respondents had a low awareness of selected factors associated with safe abortion. Also, (82%) of the respondents confirmed not having ever committed an abortion. Based on the findings, it was recommended among other things, that stakeholders such as counselling psychologists and special educators should provide adequate reproductive health education and counselling to female secondary school students with learning disabilities.