EFFECT OF REHABILITATION COUNSELLING ON SOCIAL SELF CONCEPT AND SELF-ASSERTIVENESS OF PRISON INMATES IN NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

This study investigated the effect ofrehabilitation counselling on social self Concept and self assertiveness ofprison inmates in Nasarawa State. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study employed experimental research design. The population was 525 inmates from two prisons in Keffi and Lafia Prisons. The sample size was 60 inmates. The study adopted purposive sampling technique. The two sets of questionnaire were used for data collection namely; Social Self Concept Scale (SSCS) and Self Assertiveness Scale (SAS) with reliability coefficients of 0.96 and 0.77 respectively. The instrument was validated by two experts in Guidance and Counselling in Department of Educational Foundations, Benue State University, Makurdi. The data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and t-test to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that there is significant effect of rehabilitation counselling on social self and self assertiveness ofprison inmates in Nasarawa State. Based on the findings, it was recommended that Prison authorities should ensure that social activities such as debates and sporting activities are done in prison yards to improve the social selfconcept of inmates. Periodic lessons should be organized by counsellors along with talk shows and constructive arguments between inmates to help them improve on their self assertiveness (being polite/upright).