Social disconnectedness among widows in Nigeria: probing the effects of self-monitoring intervention

Year 2019, Volume: 5 Issue: 5, 894 - 904, 04.09.2019

Victor Moses

https://doi.org/10.18621/eurj.430761

Cited By: 3

Abstract

Objectives: There could be no group more affected by
social disconnectedness than widows and many who suffer from social
disconnectedness live a lonely life, suffer depression, anxiety, low self-esteem
and self-worth, and are hunted by the constant thought of suicide. Developing
an intervention to provide reprieve may help widows take back their lives. This
article therefore, presents the results of a study probing the effectiveness of
self-monitoring intervention in reducing social disconnectedness among the
widows in Kaduna state, Nigeria.

Methods: The study used the quasi-experimental method
involving pretest and posttest. The data were collected using Social
Disconnectedness Questionnaire from 47 widows in the treatment group and 45
widows in the waitlist control group. The mean age of the participants (42.33 ±
6.38 years [95%CI = 41.02-43.63], range; 28.0-56.0 years).

Results: Analysis of the data suggests that
self-monitoring intervention is significantly effective in reducing social
disconnectedness behaviour problem among the widows in the study area. After
eight weeks of self-monitoring intrevention, social disconnectedness behaviour
among the widows reduced by 39% compared to 5.63% observed in the waitlist
control group.

Conclusions: The outcome adds to the literature as
one of few studies investigating self-monitoring intervention among widows and
calls for increased probing to establish the efficacy of self-monitoring in
reducing social disconnectedness in widows in Nigeria and elsewhere in the
world.

Keywords

Social disconnectedness, widows, self-monitoring intervention

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