Effects of Two Modes of Groups Counseling Approaches on HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing Among School-going Adolescents

Abstract

Aims: The study investigated the effects of cognitive behavioral and reality group therapies in fostering human immunodeficiency virus/ voluntary counseling and testing among school-going adolescents in Benin Metropolis, Edo State, Nigeria. Method: A pre- and post-test true experimental control group design was observed. While 120 school-going adolescents from three randomly selected schools were recruited and randomly assigned to two treatments (Cognitive Behavior [37] and Reality [34] Therapies) and control [38] groups, with 11 dropout accounting for 9% alteration rate. The treatment last six weeks. Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The instruments used for data collection were self-administered scales with a test-retest reliability coefficient of 0.87 after an interval of three weeks. Data generated was analyzed using the inferential statistics of Analysis of Variance tested at a 0.05 level of significance. Results: The results showed that cognitive behaviour and reality therapies were significantly effective in fostering HIV/voluntary counselling and testing among school-going adolescents. That is, the two modes of group interventions improve the willingness of adolescents of these schools towards receiving counselling and performing testing for HIV. Conclusion: It was concluded that cognitive behaviour and reality therapies were found to be potent on school-going adolescents’ willingness toward HIV voluntary counselling and testing for prevention and treatment.