Old-age loneliness is a crucial public health issue with mortality consequences as well as other negative health conditions and lifestyles including depression, substance abuse, sedentary lifestyles, and suicide ideation. This study investigated the predictors of loneliness among older adults in Nigeria’s southeast in order to articulate some interventions that will plummet the issue. A structured questionnaire (N = 516), in-depth interviews (N = 8), and focus group discussion (N = 16) were used to collect data from respondents aged 60 years or older. The quantitative data sets were subjected to chi-square and binary regression analysis, while a thematic analysis was adopted for the qualitative data. The study’s findings show that some demographic factors such as the number of children (p < .002), health status (p < .023), and social support (p < .014), among others, were statistically significant in predicting loneliness among older adults. The study, therefore, recommends the consideration of community-based services to enable elderly adults to buffer the experience of loneliness. Social workers should also influence the various organs responsible for social policies to formulate and promote policies that address the well-being of older adults.

The novel COVID-19 pandemic has taken the world by surprise and given the scale at which it is impacting individuals, families, communities, and countries globally, the recognition of social workers as frontline actors in response to this pandemic cannot be overemphasized. However, social workers in Nigeria, appear not to be aware of the roles they can play. The question then arises as to the adequacy of their training curriculum that probably made them not be aware of their roles. Eight social workers who work in health and welfare agencies were purposively selected and interviewed by telephone. Findings show that they were not aware of the role expected of them during the pandemic. Some noted that their training was somewhat deficient hence the need to introduce some courses and also enhance field practicum in future training of social workers. The study recommends the need for social work educators to be more proactive in their interpretation of courses, the need to revise the current curriculum for training social workers in Nigeria to make it more action-oriented as well as incorporate more courses in public health and disaster management.

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Purpose: With increasing incidents of injustices in Nigeria, concerns for social justice have been topical. Social workers are expected to be at the fore of campaigns and implementation of social justice, hence, the question of their preparedness to match these expectations. This article sets out to ascertain whether the content of the curriculum of the Department of Social Work, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, meets these expectations. Method: Focus group discussion and in-depth interviews were used to collect data from purposively selected 20 undergraduates and four postgraduates. Results: Findings show that the students believe that the curriculum has enough social justice content though there is a need for review and change in delivery methods. Discussion: The incorporation of social justice into the curriculum encourages its application by practitioners. It is important to introduce more courses on social justice to impact more on the students and train teachers on better delivery methods.