ASSESSING ATTITUDE TOWARDS COVID-19 IN PREPARATION FOR COUNSELLING: EXPERIENCE OF UNDERGRADUATES IN A NIGERIAN PRIVATE UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The objective of this study is to empirically measure the attitude of undergraduate students toward COVID-19 in preparation for Counselling. Two hundred and sixty-three (263) undergraduate students in a Nigerian Private University participated in the study. The instrument used was Attitude towards Corona Virus Questionnaire. The content validity was established by a Test and Measurement expert. The research questions are: What percentage of the respondents was aware of COVID-19? What percentage of the respondents believe that COVID-19 kills? What percentage of the respondents witnessed COVID-19 death? What percentage of the respondents believed in the COVID-19 medical intervention protocols? What percentage of the respondents obeyed the COVID-19 protocol? What percentage exercised faith in their religion to fight the COVID-19 pandemic? What percentage of the respondents was infected with COVID19? The data was analysed with basic descriptive statistics. The result shows that 90.9% (n=239; N=263) of the respondents were aware of COVID-19; Though 93.2% (n=245) believed that COVID-19 kills, only 26.2% [n=69] directly witnessed COVID-19 death. Though 66.2% (n=174) of the respondents reported they believed in the COVID-19 protocols, only 20.5% (n=54) reported that they consistently kept the protocol, while 40.7% (n=107) obeyed sometimes. It is interesting to note that 92% (n=242) reported that they used a combination of faith in their religious beliefs and adherence with the COVID-19 protocols to fight the pandemic, while 8% (n=22) neither applied faith nor obeyed the COVID-19 protocol. On the question of infection, 11.8% (n=31) reported they were infected with COVID-19. The findings revealed a number of interesting dimensions that informed the recommendations.