Abstract:
Psychological, emotional and physical challenges facing secondary school students have become great concerns to parents, educators and the government. Positive behavioural change among the adolescent requires a more complex psychological approach that would address their thoughts,
fears, feelings and values. Although bibliotherapy has been known to address such challenges by promoting positive values in society the extent to which it can be applied to address challenges facing secondary schools students in the country has not yet been investigated. The aim of the study was to investigate ways in which bibliotherapy could be used to address the diverse challenges facing secondary school students in Kenya. The objectives of the study were: to
identify behavioral challenges facing students and their causes; to examine strategies used by schools in addressing these challenges; and to suggest ways in which bibliotherapy could be used to address challenges experienced by students. The study was informed by Albert Bandura’s (1989) Social Learning Theory which emphasized learning through modeling and observation. The study was carried out in eleven (11) out of twenty-one (21) secondary schools in Thika Municipality, constituting both public and private schools. The study applied a mixed methods approach. The study population comprised of students, school heads, guidance and counseling teachers, school librarians and key informants
from the Ministry of Education and KIE. Students were randomly selected while the schools and the other respondents were purposefully selected. Both interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data. Data was analyzed qualitatively by the use of content analysis and summary sheets.The key study findings were: students encountered various behaviour challenges which were caused by many factors, among them, peer pressure, influence of mass media, inadequate intervention measures by school administrators; failure of school libraries to offer reading guidance and failure to use bibliotherapy to promote positive values among school students.
Among the key recommendations of the study were: initiate a course on bibliotherapy in teacher training institutions, introduce bibliotherapy in secondary schools; improve the state of school libraries; provide bibliotherapeutic materials and enact a policy to facilitate the use of bibliotherapy. The study further provides a proposed bibliotherapy model to address behaviour challenges facing secondary school students
