Dr. Leonida Makila Makutsa of Kibabii University was privileged to make her project work presentation during the Annual International Society for Research on Adolescence themed Today’s Innovations Tomorrow’s Insights which was held from the 18th-20th of April 2024 in Chicago, Illinois in the USA. Dr. Makila who is a Lecturer in the Department of Education Psychology carried out a project work on Covid Related Gender Based Violence and Its Impact on Mental Health and Academic Resilience of Adolescence Girls. The study which was carried out between January to March of 2022 targeted a number of girls secondary schools in the Western regions of Kenya. Among the schools that were targeted included Kolanya Girls and Chakol Girls in Busia County, Kibuk Girls and Kim Girls in Mt. Elgon regions of Bungoma County, Kipsigis Girls, Tengecha Girls, Kapkisiara Girls and Cheptuyet Girls in Kericho County.
The focus of the study was on mental health and academic resilience looking at how gender based violence affected school going girls in secondary schools in Kenya during the Covid-19 pandemic with 450 students being sampled. The study established that mental health trajectories are always altered during pandemics and that it was imperative that intervention strategies should be developed, key being listening to the voices of this vulnerable age cohort to bolster resilience.
Dr. Leunida Makila thanked the University Management for supporting her study and giving her an opportunity to make a presentation to them before flying out to Chicago. She also thanked her team of research assistants from Kibabii University who included Dr. Robert Kati, Mr. Kelly Inyani, Mr. Onex Opati, Dr. Lilian Ayiro and Vivian Machanury. Her gratitude was also to the school heads who accorded her and her team maximum support and all the students whose contribution led to the success of this project. At the Presentation in Chicago, Kibabii University was awarded an Encyclopedia on Adolescents.
