Bibliotherapy and reading development among secondary school students in Nigeria: A scoping review

Abstract

This scoping review maps recent empirical and conceptual literature on bibliotherapy in Nigerian secondary education, with attention to its value as a school-based counselling approach and as an intervention for adolescent aliteracy. Aliteracy refers to the conditions in which students can read but show little voluntary motivation to read. The review follows PRISMA-ScR and JBI scoping review guidance and covers literature published between 2016 and 2026 from open bibliographic databases, publisher platforms, ERIC, African and Nigerian journal repositories and institutional repositories. The evidence shows a divided field such that while one stream treats bibliotherapy as a counselling resource for emotional disturbance, depression, behaviour and character development, the other stream treats it as a reading-culture strategy mediated through school libraries, book discussions and literary engagement. These streams rarely converge into a structured school framework. Nigerian evidence is also limited by small-scale studies, weak geographic spread, limited reporting of text-selection criteria and inadequate attention to indigenous and culturally responsive African literature. The review concludes that bibliotherapy can support both reading development and adolescent wellbeing when English/literature teachers, teacher-librarians, counsellors, parents and policymakers collaborate around a developmental model. Bibliotherapy has been used or proposed in Nigerian secondary education as a counselling tool, a learning-support strategy and a school-library method for improving reading culture and behaviour. Future studies should move towards multi-site, culturally grounded and mixed-methods trials comparing print, digital and hybrid models.