The Relationship Between Safety Awareness, Preparedness and Psychological Adjustment of the Survivors of Arson Attacks in Kenya: a Case of High Schools in Nairobi County.

Abstract

Arson in high schools is a global phenomenon. In Kenya, the history goes back to 1908. To date, no solution has been found. In June and July 2016, more than 130 high schools were set on fire and elicited a national outcry. Fires destroy property, cause death, psychological trauma to those affected and cost millions of shillings in treatment, repairs, relocation to other facilities, replacement of lost items and reconstruction. Over decades, survivors, who may be subdued by health implications, remain unknown. This put the future of youths in jeopardy, their communities in perpetual anxiety and the national educational goals, including, objectives of vision 2030 in doubt. Consequently, the research sought to find the best ways survivors could make their lives bearable, set goals, achieve targets and effectively participate in national development. The primary objective of the research was to determine the connection between safety awareness, preparedness and psychological adjustment of the survivors of arson attacks in high schools in Nairobi County and to determine how this connection is influenced by manifestation of symptomatology, management of symptomatology, and psychological adjustment. This research adopted a descriptive survey design. Snowballing and Respondent-driven sampling techniques were applied to select interviewees. The research population comprised students in four high schools. Self- administered questionnaires were used to collect data. Quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Hypotheses were analyzed by Pearson Product Moment Correlations (r) and stepwise regression technique. Qualitative data from open-ended questions were read, paying attention to ideas, documents and concepts from interviewees. Arson attacks are traumatic events and survivors of the events need social support, to enhance psychological adjustment which leads to healing. Findings confirmed that arson attacks are traumatic events and survivors need social support to return to normalcy; positive individual characteristics lead to psychological adjustment, healing and functioning. Thus, there is a relational linkage between safety awareness, preparedness and psychological adjustment of the survivors. These findings support and extend studies on social support, health wellbeing, functioning and safe schools and determine how this relationship is influenced by manifestation of symptomatology, management of symptomatology and psychological adjustment.