Emotional Intelligence And Self-Concealment As Predictors Of Voluntary-Counseling And Testing Seeking-Behaviour Among Public University Students In Kilifi And Mombasa Counties, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Despite several efforts put in place to address HIV and AIDS education, prevention and control programmes in public universities in Kenya, students‟ utilization of Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) services is still very low compared to the students‟ total population in the public universities in Kilifi and Mombasa counties in Kenya yet VCT uptake is necessary to bring about behavior change among the university students. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevalence among the young adults is still a national concern that requires continued investigation even in institutions of higher learning. Factors which have been investigated to affect VCT accessibility include; stigma and discrimination, fear, cultural perception and ignorance among others. One of the areas which have not adequately been investigated is Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Self- Concealment (SC). The purpose of this study therefore was to investigate the extent to which Emotional Intelligence and Self-Concealment could predict VCT seeking behavior. The Theory of Emotional Intelligence by Mayer and Salovey and Self-concealment Theory by Kelly and Achter were used. Correlation research design was used to establish predictive relationships. A sample size of 368 students (Male 196, Female 172) was drawn from target population of 9166 from Public Universities in coast region of Kenya. Purposive and proportionate random sampling techniques were used. Pilot study was carried out among 260 similar sampled populations to establish reliability and validity of the instruments. The instruments of Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS), Self-Concealment Scale (SCS), and VCT seeking behavior Scale (VCT SBS) were used for data collection. Spearman Rank Order correlation co-efficiency tested the predictive relationships. The test result indicated a statistically significance positive relationship between the variables; self-concealment and VCT seeking behavior (r = 0.634 > 0.05), emotional intelligence and VCT seeking behavior (r =0.375 > 0.05) and emotional intelligence and self-concealment (r =0.302> 0.05 Significance level). The study revealed that self-concealment was a significant determiner in VCT seeking behavior with a predictive p-value =0.029