Influence of Capacity Building of Counsellors on Teenage Pregnancy in Public Secondary Schools in Ruiru Sub-County, Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

Capacity building plays an important role in equipping counsellors with skills to enable them undertake their tasks of reducing incidences of teenage pregnancy in public secondary schools. However, in Ruiru Sub- County, cases of teenage pregnancy in public secondary schools are still high. Thus, this study sought to assess the influence of capacity building of counsellors on teenage pregnancy in public secondary schools in Ruiru Sub- County, Kiambu County, Kenya. The objectives were; to assess the level of teenage pregnancy and the influence of capacity building of counsellors, motivation of counsellors, provision of counselling materials and implementation of counselling reports on teenage pregnancy in public secondary schools. The study was based on the open systems theory and theory of planned behaviour. The study applied a mixed methodology and thus adopted a concurrent triangulation research design. Qualitative data were analysed thematically along the objectives and presented thematically in narrative forms. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively using frequencies and percentages and inferentially using One-Sample t-Test analysis with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 23) and presented using tables. The study established that there have been many cases of teenage pregnancy in public secondary schools. It was also found that implementation of counselling programmes has been a challenge with capacity building of counsellors not effectively undertaken in secondary schools. The study recommends that secondary schools should organize seminars and workshops to train teachers and peer- counsellors on how to undertake counselling activities. The Ministry of Education (MoE) should set and allocate some amount of money to offer as incentives to teachers and students who undertake counselling activities and tasks besides their classroom activities.