Relationship Between Human Immunodeficiency Virus Status And Self-Concept, Academic Performance, Behavioural Attitudes Among Pupils In Selected Primary Schools, Nairobi-West, Kenya

ABSTRACT

In this study the researcher studied the relationship between the HIV Status and pupils‟ self-concept, behavioral attitudes and progress in academic performance. The main aim was to investigate how the self-concept, behavioral attitudes and academic performance may interact with each other in the face of HIV/AIDS scourge and the likely outcomes. The researcher has also studied the inherent sex differences in both the behavioral attitudes and self-concept as an antecedent variable. The study consisted of 308 pupils, selected from class 4, 5, 6, 7 and class 8 in nine primary schools in Nairobi West District. The nine schools were sampled from 132 schools. The study included 154 HIV infected children from various children‟s homes and normal family set-ups who were enrolled as pupils in these schools. The study used an ex post facto research design. The purposive sampling and systematic random sampling procedures were used. In the study, a modified semantic differential scale was used to measure the pupils‟ self-concept. The academic performance was measured by use of past Examination records which were obtained from school records an academic form, while the behavioral attitudes were measured using Conner‟s Teacher Rating scale. For data analysis, the researcher used both descriptive and inferential statistics. Hypotheses were tested at α=0.05 level of significance. For the relationship between the variables, the researcher used Chi-square statistic, Pearson‟s product moment correlations for correlation within the dependent variables and t-test for independent samples to test the difference between means was used. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) computer programme was used to help in the analysis. The study was guided by three main hypotheses which stated that; There was a relationship between HIV status and pupils‟ self-concept; There was a relationship between the HIV status and pupils‟ behavior; there was a relationship between the HIV status and the pupils‟ academic performance. The results provided evidence that; (i) There was significant relationship between HIV status and the pupils‟ self-concept. However there was strong and significant correlation between self-concept and both the behavioral attitudes and academic performance. (ii) There was a strong and significant relationship between the HIV status and the pupils‟ behavioral attitudes. (iii) The academic performance of the HIV infected pupils was lower compared to the uninfected peers. Based on these findings the researcher recommended that there is need to strengthen both the psychological and behavioral interventions in the formal learning of the HIV infected pupils in both public and private primary schools.