EFFECTIVENESS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY IN ENHANCING SELF EFFICACY AMONG GENDER BASED VIOLENCE SURVIVORS IN MERU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Gender Based Violence (GBV) survivors experience negative psychological and physical
outcomes associated with various types of abuse, depriving the GBV survivors of selfefficacy, which is an indicator of mental well-being. Meru County has a rising prevalence of
GBV; therefore, if the mental well-being of GBV survivors is not addressed, it can prolong
the mental health crisis. Psychotherapy is one of the interventions that results in social adjustment and psychological well-being, whose main aspects the study sought to explore.
Meru County, through the Ministry of Health, offers a Brief Psychotherapy to the GBV survivors in an attempt to enhance mental well-being. This study sought to bridge this gap by
empirically examining the effectiveness of psychotherapy in enhancing self-efficacy among
GBV survivors in Meru County, Kenya. The target population was 1468 respondents comprising GBV survivors and 9 counsellors in Meru County. The study was carried out in selected sub counties, which have the highest number of GBV survivors in Meru County,
Kenya. Meru County was selected because the number of GBV survivors has risen from
520 reported cases in 2022 to 1468 cases in 2023. This study employed quasi-experimental
research design where a total of 304 participants were selected via simple random sampling
and equally distributed into experimental (n = 152) and control (n = 152) groups. A standardized self-efficacy assessment scale was administered at baseline and following the intervention. The experimental group received a Brief psycho-therapeutic intervention, whereas
the control group was not exposed to any treatment. To analyze the differences between the
experimental and control groups, the independent samples t-test statistic was used to determine if there were any significant differences in mean scores of the experimental group and
control group before and after the psychotherapy intervention. The findings indicated that
survivors of GBV who received brief behavioral intervention showed statistically significant
improvement in self-efficacy compared to the control group hence demonstrating that psychotherapy led to significant improvements in the mental wellbeing. These findings demonstrate the importance of psychotherapy in enhancing self-efficacy among GBV survivors.
There is need for appropriate training for counselors or the GBV focal persons on skills of
psychotherapy to enhance the therapy provided to the GBV survivors in Meru County