Qualitative exploration of undergraduate social work students’ perceptions of sexual minorities in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Nigeria has been observed as a country with cultures, religious beliefs and legislation that drive negative perceptions, discrimination and oppression of sexual minorities. This calls for the intervention of social workers with the mandate of ensuring social justice and the protection of minorities. We explored the perception of potential social workers in the penultimate and ultimate years about sexual minorities to highlight their preparedness for this undertaking. The data collected from 18 students using semi-structured interviews were coded with NVivo 12 and analyzed in themes. We found that 16 of the sampled 18 students had negative perceptions of sexual minorities, which resulted in the widespread endorsement of oppression and abuse of homosexuals. We also found that Nigeria’s social work education curriculum is limited in preparing students for practice with sexual minorities. We concluded by recommending a review of the social work education curriculum for more inclusive training.

KEYWORDS:

• Education
• perception
• sexual minorities
• LGBTQ+
• social work students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Samuel Chinedu Onuh

Samuel Chinedu Onuh is a graduate student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His research focuses on sexual minorities and marginalization.

Prince Chiagozie Ekoh

Prince Chiagozie Ekoh is a teaching fellow and social researcher at the Department of Social Work, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State. His speciality is in areas of social gerontology and migration. He has a Master of science degree in social work and gerontology. He is currently a PhD student at the University of Calgary.

Patricia Uju Agbawodikeizu

Patricia Uju Agbawodikeizu is a Senior Lecturer in the department of Social Work , University of Nigeria, Nsukka.She is a reserach fellow with Health policy Research Group and H3Africa, Nigeria.