Effectiveness of Rational Emotive Behaviour and Cognitive Behavioural Therapies in Reducing Examination Anxiety Among Senior Secondary School Students in Edo State
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to determine the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) in reducing examination anxiety among secondary school students in Edo State.
Specifically, the purpose of the study is
- determine the effectiveness of rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) as a method for reducing examination anxiety among secondary school students;
- determine the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), as a treatment measure in reducing examination anxiety among secondary school students;
- compare the effectiveness of rational emotive behaviour therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy in reducing examination anxiety among secondary school students;
- determine the interactive effects of gender and age on REBT treatment therapy; and to
- determine the interactive effects of gender and age on CBT treatment therapy.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter centres on the review of related literature on effectiveness of rational emotive behaviour therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy in reducing examination anxiety among secondary school students. The review of literature is carried out under the following subheadings:
Concepts:
- Concept of Examination Anxiety
- Concept of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy
- Concept of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Relevance of REBT and CBT concepts to the study
Empirical Reviews on:
- Effectiveness of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy and examination anxiety.
- Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and examination anxiety
- Gender and Effectiveness of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT)
- Gender and Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Age and Effectiveness of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT)
- Age and Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Summary of Literature Review
Concept of Examination Anxiety
To examine the concept of examination anxiety in the right perspectives a brief review of the concept of examination becomes necessary. According to Alli (2006) examinees and the examiners view examination or any form of tests as an anxiety provoking process. Students and parents alike fear and are always tensed because examination results affect the plan for student’s career. Thus, the role of testing and examination include: to award certificates, to give progress reports to parents on their wards’ intellectual abilities, to promote students to new classes or to seek admission into higher institutions of learning, to identify and adjudge those suitable for employment and to monitor, govern and socialize individuals into a progressive and highly knowledgeable society. By passing an examination, a student obtains and confirms an identity, a notion of who and what they are. Success in the form of certificate via examination has become an important tool in the school system. This underscores the reason why examination is an inducer for anxiety.
Meaning of Anxiety: When one hears the term anxiety, they might think of an uneasy feeling of nervousness that occurs when life becomes overly stressful. Another individual might imagine the fear-filled feeling before giving a speech in front of a group of people.
Anxiety and fear can truly refer to a variety of feelings that may occur in quite different settings. A student with an excessive fear of spiders (specific phobia) might behave very differently than a student with anxiety for examination. This is because anxiety has a number of different definitions. From agoraphobia to posttraumatic stress disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder, there are many types of anxiety within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-4th edition (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). It should be noted as well that individuals may display different forms of anxiety concurrently; comorbidity is not rare (Last, Perrin, Hersen & Kazadin 1992; Curry & Murphy, 1995).
According to Roemer & Orsillo (2007), Anxiety is a term that is often used interchangeably with other terms, such as fear, phobia, and clinical fears. King & Ollendick (2007) described fear as “a feeling or condition of being afraid when exposed to real or imagined threatening stimuli,” while anxiety is considered to be more of a pervasive experience. They looked at both fearful and anxious students and found that high anxiety students were also more fearful than low anxiety students were; thus, showing that there is overlap in anxiety and fearfulness.
Anxiety according to National Institute for Clinical Excellence (2004) is a subjective state of apprehension and uneasiness about something that is more internal than external. It is usually a response to a vague, distant or even unrecognised danger which affects one’s whole being. It is a physiological, behavioural and psychological reaction all at once. On the physiological level, anxiety may include bodily reactions such as rapid heartbeat, muscle tension, dry mouth or sweating. On a behavioural level, it can sabotage your ability to act, express yourself, or deal with certain everyday situations. While on a psychological level it can cause you to feel detached from yourself.
Byrne (2006) defined anxiety as the absence of inner peace while anxiety is defined by Cassidy (2010) as the psychological mechanism were by the current intensification of a dangerous drive results in the elicitation of defences. It is a common knowledge that the world today is full of stressors that makes various demands on people. The demand has so increased the coping mechanism of man that those who are unable to cope become maladjusted and are vulnerable to experience fear and anxiety even at any little provocation. Byrne (2006) in his work states that not all stress is bad for you in fact, there are many who believe that humans need some degree of stress to stay healthy. The human body craves for physiological calm, yet it also requires physiological arousal to ensure the optima functioning of several organs including the heart and the skeletal system. He emphasized anxiety knows no race, age, gender, religion, nationality or social economic class hence it is called the equal opportunity destroyer.
According to Trifoni & Shahini (2011) Test and testing have become an inherent part of our society. Beginning with the nursery school, a child repeatedly takes classroom exams and periodically given standardized test. As the child moves through school, the frequency of testing increases. By secondary school, in addition to normal class tests, the student may take a number of tests for scholarship to and for entrance into university. Regardless of the point at which a person leaves the educational system, it is unlikely that they ever escape testing completely. Some students face examination with relative calm but more are prone to spontaneous tension and anxiety even at the mention of examination or test. Such students exhibit physiological reaction; a desire for escape and experience confused thoughts due to cognitive imbalances and interferences; hence the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental health 4th edition (DSM-IV) (American Psychiatric Association (1994) classified test anxiety as a specific form of social phobia. In spite of the uneasiness faced by students during examination, (Burns, 2008) asserts that testing is an integral component of quality teaching, examination is therefore of inspiration. It is the time for demonstration of abilities of students as well as that of the teachers.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODS OF STUDY
This chapter focuses on the methods of study. It addresses the research, design, population of the study, sample and sampling techniques. It also describes the instrument for data collection, validity of the instrument, reliability of the instrument, control of extraneous variables, method of data collection, method of data analysis and ethical consideration.
Design of the Study
This study, adopted the quasi-experimental research design. Harrington & Harrigan (2006) described a quasi-experimental study as a type of experimental study that determines the effect of a treatment paradigm in a non-randomized sample. Ali (2003) explained that quasi-experimental research design could be used in a school setting where it is not always possible to use pure experimental design which they consider as disruption of school activities. Many quasi-experimental methods are available but the one that was employed in this study was the non-randomized pre-test–post-test control group design. Here, three groups of students were involved in three intact groups namely Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy (REBT) and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and a placebo control group.
Population of the Study
The population for the study comprised of all SS1and SS2 students in public senior secondary schools in Edo State. The population of this category of students for the year 2013/2014 academic session was 44,963 in the eighteen Local Government areas in Edo State. This figure was made of 20,910 boys and 24,052 girls in 301 public senior secondary schools in the three senatorial districts namely Edo South with 132 senior secondary schools and a population of 25,029 students, Edo Central with 71 senior secondary schools and a population of 5,376 students and Edo North with 98 senior secondary schools and a population of 14,558 students in SS1 and SS2 respectively (Ministry of Education Benin City, Edo State 2014).
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
This chapter dealt with presentation of results and discussions of findings
The data presented here were obtained from 239 students from the three senior secondary schools. The presentation of the data comprised of the results obtained from the statistical test of research questions and formulated hypotheses for the study.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter presents the summary, conclusion and recommendations for the study.
Summary of the Study
The main purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in reducing examination anxiety among senior secondary school students in Edo State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study was designed to determine the effectiveness of REBT as a method for reducing examination anxiety among senior secondary school students; to determine the effectiveness of CBT as a treatment measure in reducing examination anxiety among senior secondary school students; and to determine also if gender and age had any interaction effect on REBT and CBT.
The statement of the problem stemmed from the fact that examination anxiety is an overwhelming problem for many students, its effects diminish test performance, lower self-confidence, increased negative self-talk and can cause physiological disturbances.
The significance of the study indicated that the information obtained by completing this study would be beneficial to stakeholders in the educational system such as guidance counsellors, principals, teachers, researchers and government. The study would be of great assistance to the guidance counsellors as it would increase their knowledge on effective therapies for counselling their students who are over anxious in evaluative process as this would be so as counsellor would become more aware that rational emotive behaviour therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy can be used to reduce examination anxiety disorder of secondary school students. The scope of study covered public senior secondary school students in SS1 and SS2 classes in Edo state, Nigeria.
The sample consisted of only examination anxious students who were selected and exposed to either one of the following treatment CBT or REBT. Duration of the treatment exposure was seven weeks.
The review of literature was carried out and concepts of Examination, Examination Anxiety, REBT, CBT and relevance of REBT and CBT to the study were explored. Other areas explored in the literature included empirical studies on the effectiveness of REBT and CBT in the management of other maladaptive disorders as well as summary of literature review.
The chapter three of the study dealt with the methodology of the research. This research was a quasi-experimental research based on pretest- posttest control group design. The population of the study consisted of all senior secondary school students in classes one and two in the state senior public secondary schools for 2013/14 academic session. Test anxiety inventory scale of Spielberger (1980) was adopted. It is 20 items questionnaires based on a four point Likert scale with minimum scores of 20 and maximum scores of 80, scores of 51 and above reflected examination anxiety.
In this study, data generated were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANCOVA. All hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed four major findings;
- the study reveals that REBT and CBT treatment therapies are effective intervention for the management of examination anxiety;
- the interactive effect of gender of on the REBT and CBT treatment was not significantly effective;
- the interactive effect of age on the REBT and CBT treatment therapies was not significantly effective; and
- the interactive effect of gender and age on the REBT and CBT treatment therapies was significantly effective.
Conclusion
Based on the findings, rational emotive behaviour (REBT) and cognitive behavioural (CBT) therapies are effective treatment therapies in reducing examination anxiety among senior secondary school students. The interactive effect of gender alone on treatment therapies was not significantly effective and also the interactive effect of age alone on treatment therapies was equally not significantly effective. However, the interactive effects of gender and age on treatment therapies was significantly effective. There was no relative effectiveness of one therapy over the other. Both therapies can be used in a school setting. The study confirmed the researcher’s expectations that the use of REBT and CBT therapies can be effective in managing examination anxiety. Therefore, school guidance counsellors should adopt the use either CBT or REBT in management of students with examination anxiety.
Recommendations
Based on the findings and the conclusions drawn, the following recommendations were made:
- Professional counsellors should be trained and be retrained in the various form of psychotherapy including CBT and REBT as their interventions in the management of test anxiety and other behavioural disorders.
- Counselling/psychological intervention programmes should be put in place to help students experiencing test anxiety in schools by school management, Governmental organisations and NGOs
- Nigerian universities should incorporate training in REBT and CBT therapies as counselling techniques for use with test anxious students as part of the counsellors’ educational programme.
- Principals and teachers should cooperate with the school counsellors by referring examination anxious students to counsellors as quickly as possible instead of using cane or force to make them perform better.
- Government should sponsor seminars, workshops and professional counsellor training programs for counsellors on how treatment therapies would be used more effectively to help examination anxious students.
- Federal, State, Local Government and NGOs in Nigeria should equip all school counselling offices and clinics with resource materials like psychological tests, which can be used by counsellors to identify highly test anxious students.
Implications for Counselling
Anxiety problems are among the most commonly diagnosed mental and emotional problems to occur during childhood and adolescence. Test anxiety is a maladaptive behaviour in which counselling can help test anxious students modifies the way they think, act and feel. Rational emotive behaviour and cognitive behavioural therapies are proven to be effective interventions in reducing examination anxiety. They are based on strategies derived from behavioural and cognitive theories which involve the conceptualization of anxious symptoms in terms of conditioned responses to stimuli, with corresponding interventions emphasizing the blocking and extinction of behaviour through exposure. The goals of therapy are:
- To make clients more aware of their self-talk and internal dialogue and particularly of their self- defeating beliefs, so that they will be able to think more rationally, clearly, logically and self- helping.
- To teach clients to evaluate their thinking and behaviour in order to experience healthier emotions and fewer dysfunctions.
- To teach clients the skills to use rational emotive behaviour and cognitive behavioural principles so that they will act more functionally and be better able to achieve their goals in life.
Approach is prescriptive as it presents the counsellor as an elder who mainly applies to rational problem-solving process in an individual. This approach is very familiar to the younger people in any African setting but it is better than the causal guidance of the elders because it is based on logical problem solving. Application and interfaces of REBT and CBT are used with a broad range of clinical and non-clinical problems in traditional psychotherapeutic settings such as individual, group or family therapy.
Test anxious students suffer from fear of examination, delinquency, depression and shame, negative thoughts about school, tachycardia and social failure. They also suffer from emotional disturbances; develop distorted views on life, particularly when they suffer from the shame of repeated failures among family members and peers, which could result in reactive depression and in some cases psychosis. Therapy is applied as an educational process in which the counsellor active-directively teaches the client how to identify irrational and self-defeating beliefs and philosophies which in nature are rigid, extreme, unrealistic, Illogical and absolute, and then actively question and dispute them and replace them with more rational and self-helping ones. By using different cognitive, emotive and behavioural methods and activities, the client together with help from the counsellor and in homework exercises, can gain a more rational, self-helping and constructive rational way of thinking, emoting and behaving. Counsellors should present lessons, by helping client understand that they have the ability to change their thoughts and thus, change their feelings. The connection between thoughts and feelings are essential when using REBT or CBT.
This study also has implications for practicing guidance counsellors as it is important to understand the cause and outcome of test anxiety, especially during an era of education policy when decision is often based upon students’ performance on standardized test. Students whose performance is decreased because of test anxiety may not be properly identified in the school setting. Test anxiety is easily overlooked by teachers and parents. This makes screening for test anxiety even more important in other to identify and intervene with students who are underperforming because of anxiety. School counsellors or practioners in particular should be knowledgeable about screening and implementation of intervention, and this knowledge could be used to reduce test anxiety in schools.
Implication for counsellor educators: Counsellors’ educator can provide expertise in regards to research, program implementation, data collection and program evaluation of intervention. They can also advocate for support from administration, ministries of education and founding sources for implementation of data driven intervention that shows positive results in decreasing test anxiety. Efforts must be geared towards ensuring practicing counsellors update their skills in order to effectively utilize REBT and CBT treatments for test anxiety during seminars, workshops and CASSON meetings organised for practicing counsellors, they should be exposed to the use of REBT and CBT techniques with this experience, counsellors can effectively handle some of the psychological problems of test anxious students. Counsellors educators in Nigerian colleges of education and universities should be involved in the development of counselling curriculum to incorporate training in REBT and CBT for use with test anxious students as part of the counsellor’s educational curriculum in higher institution.
Contributions to Knowledge
The study has contributed to knowledge in the following areas:
- that REBT is effective in the management of examination anxiety;
- that CBT is effective in the management of examination anxiety; and
- it has provided a conceptual framework for the administration of REBT and CBT therapies in reducing examination anxiety among secondary school students.
Suggestions for Further Studies
Future studies on the effectiveness of counselling therapies must divert from the current research in a number of ways:
- Future research efforts should focus on students in other states of the federation as the current research focused only on one state, Edo State.
- For a better representation of the student population, it is suggested that students in primary, junior secondary schools and universities and private schools be the focus for future studies since the present study focused only on SS1 and SS2 students in public school in Edo State.
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