Parental Grief Counselling and School Attendance of Children Bereaved by Maternal Mortality in Rural Kebbi State

This study investigates the role of parental grief counselling in improving school attendance among children bereaved by maternal mortality in rural Kebbi State, North West Nigeria. Maternal mortality rates in North West Nigeria remain among the highest globally, and the sudden loss of a mother has documented consequences for children's emotional functioning and school attendance patterns. The study employs a community-based quasi-experimental design, involving 100 bereaved children aged 7 to 15 and their surviving guardians from three rural communities in Birnin Kebbi and Jega Local Government Areas. Guardians in the intervention group received six home-visit grief counselling sessions delivered by trained community health workers, while controls received standard social welfare check-ins. School attendance records and the Prolonged Grief Disorder Scale for Bereaved Caregivers were used as instruments. Data were analysed using paired samples t-tests and logistic regression. Findings reveal that children whose guardians received grief counselling showed a significant improvement in school attendance rates at a three-month follow-up, with guardian prolonged grief symptom reduction mediating this improvement. Community acceptance of counselling was enhanced by engaging traditional and religious leaders in the programme design process. These results highlight the indirect pathway through which caregiver psychological recovery supports child educational participation. The Kebbi State Government is advised to integrate grief counselling into maternal mortality response protocols and to train community health extension workers in basic bereavement support. Keywords: grief counselling, maternal mortality, school attendance, bereaved children, Kebbi State.