Self-esteem and academic performance levels of HIV/AIDS orphaned primary school pupils in children’s homes in Nyeri South Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Since the first case of HIV/AIDS was diagnosed in Kenya in 1984, it is estimated that over 1.5 million people have died of AIDS related illness, resulting to 1.1 million children who are HIV/AIDS orphans. A parent’s death usually affects children’s psychological well-being that includes self-esteem. Children who experience low self-esteem may have poor adaptation to human functioning and life experiences. This may in turn affect their academic performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate self-esteem and academic performance levels of HIV/AIDS orphaned primary school pupils in children’s homes of Nyeri South Subcounty. The research adopted the descriptive survey design. The population of the study was 190 HIV/AIDS orphaned primary school pupils from five children’s homes who were in class one to eight in Nyeri South Sub-county. The accessible population was 53 HIV/AIDS orphaned children in class six to eight and five caretakers who were purposively selected from children’ home that had HIV/AIDS orphaned pupils. Since the accessible population was small, all the 53 HIV/AIDS orphaned pupils and five caretakers were involved in the study. HIV/AIDS orphans and caretakers were obtained through purposive sampling. Data was collected using a pupil’s questionnaires, a self-esteem scale and interview schedules for caretakers. The face of validity of the instruments was ascertained by getting advice from experts and incorporating the suggestions given. Reliability was established by conducting a pilot study in a children’s home in Nyeri North sub-county using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. A reliability coefficient of 0.84 was obtained and accepted for the study. Both inferential and descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. Consequently, frequencies, means, percentages, and t-test statistics were used. This was aided by the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 18.0 for windows. An analysis of the major findings indicated that self-esteem and academic performance levels of HIV/AIDS orphaned primary school pupils were moderately low, girls being more predisposed to lower self-esteem and academic performance. The findings of this study may assist the Ministry of Education and Children’s department to establish programmes that may address the needs of HIV/AIDS orphans. HIV/AIDS orphans may be helped to adjust better and have a sense of belonging. The school administrators, teachers, guardians and non-governmental organizations may use them to understand the HIV/AIDS orphans better.