**4. Psychosocial educational**

#### **4.1 What is psychosocial educational?**

Psychosocial is a term used to refer to the active association between psychological aspects of one experiences (including, our feelings, emotions, and behaviors) and our wider social experience (that is, our relationships, family and community networks, social values, and cultural practices), where one influences [68]. Psychosocial education is a terminology of knowledge used to provide to individuals and families to promote awareness regarding unhealthy relationships and maladaptive behaviors. As individuals become aware of such dynamics in their relationships, they can understand the impact and work toward change.

*Psychosocial Educational and Economic Impact of COVID-19: Implication for Girl Child… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107181*

#### **4.2 Types of psychosocial problems among girl children**

The following are the types of psychosocial problems among girl children [69].

#### *4.2.1 Growing up armed groups*

Child stealing, kidnapping for rape or sexual assault by militant groups exists in Nigeria [70]. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children states about 800,000 persons are reported missing every year and about 2000 missing persons a day [55]. Around 5% of these are under age 18. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Nigeria [69] put it that, "Nigeria has vulnerable children who have experienced abduction or forced conscription by non-state armed groups." UNICEF [69] further states that, "children reported having spent crucial periods of their childhood in captivity, in small, hot, enclosed, overcrowded spaces, leading to extreme distress endured over a long duration of time."

#### *4.2.2 The continuance of stressors after release*

UNISEF [69] identified five factors related to stressors after release among the girl child: Separation from family and loss of caregivers, stigma and isolation, prevalence of sexual violence, challenges with attending school and loss of dignity, and child labor.

#### *4.2.3 Prevalence of sexual violence*

Sexual violence means whichever sexual action, and in other words an effort, to attain to acquire sexual act by forcefulness or intimidation. The most vulnerable type of psychosocial problems among Girl Children according to United Nations Children's Fund [69] is sexual violence; the girl child sexual violence is prevalent at the camps and was reported by every girl interviewed for the assessment. Sexual exploitation by volunteers during food and nonfood item distribution was frequently reported during the assessment. The report of the United Nations Children's Fund [69] further cited that, "almost every girl shared that she had been followed by a stranger at the camp more than once. When probed for unsafe spaces, the girls shared that toilet and shower areas were unsafe as there was only a thin metal sheet dividing the male and female showers, with the clothes hung at the same place."

#### *4.2.4 Challenges to attending school*

Boko Haram crisis has extensively expanded the severity of all challenges against formal education in the region, especially the girl child (See 3.2) [53].

#### *4.2.5 Loss of dignity and child labor*

"The volunteers and workers take advantage of girls, seeking sexual favors in exchange for food. If you refuse, they twist it around against your family. And because our parents do not work, we are dependent on aid [69]."

#### *4.2.6 Child marriage*

In northern Nigeria, religion and culture influenced parents to marry their children at the exact age of marriage, of 13 to 14 years for girls and 16 to 17 years for boys. Girls were reportedly at higher risk of child marriage and had little

choice-making capacity. Often, adolescent girls were married to middle-aged men as one of the multiple wives [69].

### *4.2.7 Deteriorating interpersonal and family relationships*

It was observed that interpersonal relationships were poor and reportedly getting worse among families [69].

One girl child who has experienced this in her interpersonal family narrated that, "my mother remarried and has another husband and a new baby. if the baby is crying, she asks me to comfort him. But then she insults me if the baby continues to cry. The mother says "it is because you are not related by blood; you do not have the same father'. And the girl children further add that "I have run away from home before [69]." This is evidence an adolescent girl describing poor family relationships in north-east Nigeria.

## **4.3 Effectiveness of psychosocial support on girl child with psychosocial problems**

According to the International Network for Education in Emergencies [68], "Psychosocial support is a process of facilitating resilience within individuals, families and communities." Also, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Africa [71], Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS) [72], United Nations Children's Fund [69], and Save the Children Nigeria [73], psychosocial support refers to a scale of care and support that influence both the individual and the social environment in which people live and ranges from care and support offered by caregivers, family members, friends, neighbors, teachers, health workers, and community members on a daily basis, and also extends to care and support offered by specialized psychologist and social services."

Psychosocial support offered to individuals, their partners and families to remedy their psychosocial problems can assist people in making informed decisions, coping better with illness, and dealing more effectively with discrimination. It improves the quality of the lives of the affected people [74].

#### **4.4 Strategies curb with girl child with psychosocial problems**

The World Health Organization [74] developed the following Strategies as a measure to curb psychosocial problems:


*Psychosocial Educational and Economic Impact of COVID-19: Implication for Girl Child… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107181*

• Basic strategies for providing psychosocial support should be developed for specific groups, especially women, youth, men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, and health care providers.

#### **4.5 How to use social studies education to address the challenges of psychosocial problems among girl children**

Social study is a program of instructions or studies that a society uses to instill in learners the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and actions that it considers important concerning the relationships that human beings have with each other [75]. One of the primary aims of teaching Social Studies Education in Nigeria is to inculcate the right type of attitude that is desirable for pupils. To do this effectively, Social Studies teachers, at all levels of education in Nigeria, (nursery, primary, secondary or tertiary), must be conversant and knowledgeable with national values. And this can be derived from the national objectives, some of which are as follows: A free and democratic society; a united, strong, and self-reliant nation; a just and egalitarian society; a great and dynamic economy; and a land of bright and full opportunities for all citizens [76]. Social studies gives students the opportunity to inquire, investigate, discover, discuss, experiment, and acquire experiences to make decisions on social issues and problems, and find solutions to them [17].

## **5. Conclusion**

The Dakar Framework for Action goal (b) stipulated that all girls child, in difficult circumstances, such as those with Psychological problems or it related terms should have access to complete at least primary education of good quality. Psychological problems are an essential part of an individual's life. Child health professionals (CHPs) identified that psychosocial problems exist among school-aged children, particularly girl children. One out of ten (20%) adolescents encounter at least one behavioral problem internationally. Therefore, the World Health Organization [74] recommended that "Psychosocial support should be made specifically to include in nations guidelines for the management of psychosocial problem, also compulsory training on the provision of psychosocial support should be incorporated into the curriculum for all health institutions and the health care providers, and guidelines for home care services should be developed to include the provision of basic psychosocial care by community volunteers and family caregivers."

*Psychosocial, Educational, and Economic Impacts of COVID-19*
