Social Supports and Widows in Churches: An Empirical Assessment in Nigeria Context

Abstract

The study focused to examine assessment of social supports available for widows in churches,it adopted descriptive research survey method. The population for this study are widows in Seventh–Day Adventist and catholic churches located in Ikenne local government area in Ogun State Nigeria.  The sample size was 300 (which is the total number of widows in the seventh day Adventist churches and catholic churches) in Ikenne local government area of Ogun State.From the study it was found that 39.4% agreed that they always received check in phone calls and affection from church members, 3.3% were undecided, while 57.4% disagreed.38.4% agreed that they had received financial assistance from their churches towards their children education, 2.7% were undecided while 59.0% disagreed. 47.7% agreed that they have gotten advice from the church on how to manage their family alone, 2.7% were undecided while 49.6% disagreed Therefore it is concluded that these widows in these churches do not actually receive the full social support needed by them from their churches. It was recommended that Church members and pastors should always give counsel and help widows in their churches with the necessary assistance that they need during and after period of their mourning.

Keywords: Knowledge, Perception, Sexual violence, Female students