ABSTRACT
This study investigated the effectiveness of Rational
Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in
reducing examination anxiety of senior secondary school students in Edo State
using a pre-test–post-test, control group quasi-experimental study design. A
total of 1,193 senior secondary school students in three public schools sampled
were pretested. The test inventory scale by Spielberger was used as
investigation tool. Students with scores ≥51 were considered to be test
anxious. 248 students were test anxious. The test anxious students in each
school formed an intact group. The intact groups were assigned to different
experimental groups by simple random sampling. The two treatment groups
(Experimental groups I & II) were exposed to seven weeks training in REBT
and CBT respectively while participants in the control group received health
education as placebo treatment. Four hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of
significance. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, percentage, mean
and ANCOVA. The effect of therapy was significant at 0.05 alpha level (F=2,
220) = 54.66, P=.000 with an effective size of .332, that is 33% of the
variance in the dependent variable (post-test anxiety scores is explained by
therapy). REBT was more effective than placebo-control (P=0.000, significant
mean difference of 17.498 at 0.05). CBT was also more effective than placebo
control (P=.000, significant mean difference of 16.824 at 0.05). There was no
relative effectiveness of one therapy over the other (REBT versus CBT) (P=.747,
mean difference of .674 non-significant). There was no significant 2-way
interaction between therapy and age, and therapy and gender (F=2.358), P=0.06
and (F=1.573); P=0.210 respectively. 3-way interaction among therapy, gender
and age was significant (F=3.413), P=0.010. Age and gender combined influenced
the success of therapy in reducing examination anxiety. It is therefore
recommended that school counselling psychologist could adopt REBT or CBT
therapies to manage examination anxiety in senior secondary school students.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTIONBackground to the Study
The world has become a test conscious environment and
a test giving culture in which the lives of people are in part determined by
their test performance. Test or examination at every educational level has
become a global strategy for decision making about people at all ages and all
strata (Akinsola&Nwajei,2013). All over the world people are evaluated in
terms of their skills, abilities and achievement and such evaluation are
determined by their performance in examination (Rana & Mahmood, 2010).
Examination, the word that all
students are familiar with, and some of them are worried on hearing its name is a central built debated tool in
formal education that is used to determine whether a student has successfully understood the taught material (Leach,
Neutge & Zepk, 2001).In
the Nigeria educational system, examination indicates that assessment of students work is and remains a crucial point in teaching. In order to come out with an objective
assessment in their work, stakeholders
in education use numerous methods and instruments of which one is examination. People are conscious that it has become an inherent part of our
society as it takes a
central position as a means of assessment for qualification in various
dimensions. It is based on performance for which certificates are awarded and
it has
become more extensive not only in education but in
every sphere of life.
Many important decisions are specifically based on test. Society is focused on the benefits of education, people
have claimed that education is the key to a happier life, better job, and
success and as such examination has become a reflection of the quality of
education as well as students` level of social, behavioural and academic
wellbeing. However, the increased value of examination has not come without
repercussions. The lives of students can be greatly affected by their
performance in examination as increased importance is placed on it, this might however, trigger intense
emotion referred to as ‘anxiety’ (Pekrun, Goetz, Perry, Kramer, Hochstadth & Molfenler, 2004).
Anxiety as an emotional state of
human life, is both life-saving and causes many
problems in the mental life of human beings. Humans will always express inner struggles with different
words, moods, feelings and emotions. Therefore, in terms of internal struggles,
they use expressions such as frustration, fear or worry which is referred to as
anxiety (Biabangard, 2007).
According to Rachman (2004), anxiety is a phenomenon that people
frequently encounter in their daily lives;
it can be
described as the tense, unsettling anticipation of a threatening but vague
event; a feeling of uneasy suspense. As a result of the nature of anxiety,
researchers have provided a classification of this phenomenon into different categories
(examples: language anxiety, speech anxiety,
and examination anxiety).
Speilberger & Vagg, 1995 as cited by Akinsola & Nwajei (2013) regarded
test anxiety as a situation specific or a state anxiety which is a temporary
emotional state. This is different from trait anxiety which is a constant
personality characteristic. Test anxious students are more prone to react with
excessive anxiety such as wrong, negative thoughts, nervousness and
physiological arousal across testing situations. This proneness predisposes
them to experiencing more intense levels of state anxiety which is considered
as the emotional component of test anxiety in evaluative situations. The high
level of state anxiety among test anxious people activates worry conditions
stored up in memory and these conditions interfere with test performance.
Students in secondary schools are not left out, the experience of being in secondary school (between ages 10 to 18 years) brings with it several life changes
and challenges, as this is the period which spans the time between the onset of
puberty and the onset of adulthood, known as the adolescent stage. Areas of change
within this phase of life is physiological transformations due to the onset of puberty and psychosocial developments in terms of establishing self-identity and
relationship with peers and cognitive development, in terms of their ability to
think abstractly and to solve hypothetical problems. For some students these changes may present particular problems. For
example, fulfilling social role expectation of the age groups, such as completion of formal
schooling and making important life decisions about future career. Anxiety during this period has been strongly associated
with mal-adaptive problems such as substance abuse (Rich, Sherman & Fowler,
1990), eating disorders (Soukup, Beiler & Terrel, 1990), psychosomatic
complaints (Gerritsma, 1991), suicide behaviour (Connell & Meyer, 1991) and
examination anxiety (Comunian, 1993).
Examination anxiety is a combination of perceived physiological
over-arousal, feelings of worry and dread, self-depreciating thoughts, tension
and somatic
symptoms that occurs before, during and after examination situations. It is a
physiological condition in which students experience extreme
stress and discomfort during and, or before taking examination. Examination anxiety is a sub type of anxiety disorder, affecting many students irrespective of race, gender, age, class and socio-economic background. It is a common educational problem, referring to a situation
when students will not feel confident about their abilities, which are
reflected especially in their performance. It is known to develop into a vicious cycle, after
experiencing test anxiety, students may become so fearful, anxious and upset than they would normally had been. If the cycle continues without the students acknowledging or seeking
help, the
students may begin to feel helpless in examination situations.These responses can drastically hinder student's ability to perform well and negatively affect their
social, emotional, behavioural and academic development of themselves and school.
To Ikebuna (2013) examination anxiety is prevalent
amongst student’s populations of the world and is more evident in the
developing countries where the learning environment is poor and learning
facilities are almost non-existent.
Currently, it is rather challenging to estimate the number of students
who are faced with test anxiety because of the lack of a large-scale
epidemiological study. Previous studies like Nottelmann & Hill (1997) have
reported an anxiety rate of 10% to 25% or 30% among elementary and secondary
school students, although more recently, the anxiety rates were found to be
much higher than 33% among school children and adolescents affected as reported
by Whitaker, Lowe & Lee, (2007), and lately the approximation of 40% have
been mentioned by Huberty & Dick (2009); Cassady, (2010) and Salend,
(2011).
It is associated with substantial
negative effects on students'social,
behavioural, emotional and academic success (Essau, Conradt & Peterman, 2000). Specific effects include poor social and coping skills,
often leading to avoidance of social interaction, loneliness, low self-esteem,
perception of social rejection, peer popularity, depression, and attention
deficits. Importantly, school avoidance, decreased problem-solving abilities
and lower academic-achievements are also noted as effects of examination
anxiety.
Students experiencing examination anxiety are excessively
concerned with embarrassment or consequences of poor performance. Thus, they
seek to avoid performance or evaluative situations or endure those situations
with intense distress. Inspite of these fears, one of the most enduring
components of education process is evaluation which allows an assessment of
students' comprehension of materials in their courses of study. Although,
different methods of evaluation are utilized, examinations or tests are the most commonly employed method (Jordan, Gurr, Tinline, Giga,
Faragher & Cooper, 2003).
It is true that everyone feels a little nervous and
stressed before any examination. Bufka & Balow (2009) reiterate that
moderate amount of anxiety is normal and even beneficial as it can motivate
people to prepare for an upcoming event and can help keep them focused on the
task ahead while too much anxiety can cause problems especially social
maladjustment.
In the area of
counselling psychology there are numerous counselling therapies to enhance
adaptive behaviours. These therapies are developed by psychologists and are
geared towards the elimination of maladaptive behaviours such as fear, avoidant
disorder, agoraphobia disorder, social phobia, neurosis, personality disorder,
depression, anti-social behaviour, post-traumatic stress disorder, sexual abuse
recovery, drug abuse, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorder, autism,
bipolar, acute stress disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder,
pain management, anger and stress management and many medical conditions with
psychological components. To reduce these maladaptive problems, series of
treatment options are also available including exposure therapy, self-statement
monitoring technique, systematic desensitization (SD), flooding, aversion
therapy, modelling skills, solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT)
stress-inoculation skills, Person-centred therapy, skill-deficit method, among
others. Callin, Hoffman & Weghorst (2008) state that one or a combination
of these may be recommended according to the situation and intensity. However,
of particular interest to this study is the effectiveness of rational emotive
behaviour therapy (REBT) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in reducing
examination anxiety.
Rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) is both a
psychotherapeutic system of theory
and practice and a school of thought
established by Albert Ellis (1962). Rational emotive behaviour theory posits
that people’s beliefs strongly affect their emotional functioning. In
particular, certain irrational beliefs made people feel depressed, anxious or
angry and lead to self-defeating behaviour. The word ׳belief׳
means a conviction in the truth, actuality or validity of something. So a
belief is a thought with an emotional component (conviction) and a factual
component (truth, actuality or validity). Beliefs can be either positive or
negative. Having a negative belief is not a bad thing; however, when one belief
in something that is false, a negative belief tends to become what Ellis called
an irrational belief. Irrational beliefs are not friendly to wellbeing and are
definitely unhelpful for getting ones’ basic desire, approval, comfort and
achievement.
Cognitive therapy
(CT) or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) was
developed for the treatment of psychological problems and psychiatric disorders (Fiore, 2003).
Its emphasis is on the effects of thoughts on behaviour and behaviour change
techniques. Cognitive therapy helps check and correct distorted and useless thoughts, causing emotional distress and turmoil Rost & Schermer (2001). Putwain,
Connors & Symes (2010) explained that one of the most effective ways to reduce anxiety
disorders may be through cognitive behavioural therapy. In practice, the fundamental assumption of cognitive
approaches is that cognitive behavioural therapy affects the emotions and
behaviours. In addition, it is believed that more people respond to cognitive
representations of events, cognitive-behavioural counselling, focuses on
reducing effects in beliefs and inconsistent or inefficient feedbacks.
Age and gender are variables which have been
suggested to be associated with treatment outcome. Age in education, is a level
of development equivalent to that of an average person of a particular age. As
already noted, the variable of age in combination with biological, cognitive,
affective and psychological dimensions upon students’ examination anxiety seems
to be one of the main factors determining students’ examination anxiety. It has
been mentioned to be associated with treatment outcomes. However, whether older
or younger age is likely to be associated with enhanced outcomes is unclear,
while Haig (2004) and Ann-Maree (2004) see gender as a range of physical,
mental and behaviour characteristics distinguishing between masculinity and
femininity. Depending on the context, the term may refer to biological sex.
Gender is therefore the expectations we have for people’s attitudes and
behaviours on life based on the biological sex and influence by culture. Gender
has been referred to as the socially learned behaviours and expectations
associated with being a female or a male. Gender limits and binds students to
these definitions without taking cognizance of other issues that may be
affecting the students.
No doubt examination presents some measure of
inevitable stress unfortunately the anxious student often misconstrues this as
synonymous with the prevailing view on education. Most students in
senior secondary schools in Nigeria are daily confronted with challenges of
coping with their academic activities under serious emotional stress occasioned
by test anxiety, and as long
as teaching-learning process in the school system does not provide for the
emotional adjustment of students, examination anxiety if not attended to can
hinder students educational progress.
This study applied rational emotive behaviour therapy and cognitive
behavioural therapy as possible treatment techniques in reducing examination
anxiety among senior secondary school students in Edo State. These therapies were selected in this study based on
the philosophical under pinning of REBT and CBT, that is thoughts, feelings,
and behaviours interact and significantly affect each other. Thinking affects,
and in some ways creates, an individual’s feelings and behaviours; emotions
have a very important effect on thoughts, feelings and actions, if one of these
processes is somehow altered the others are influenced as well.
The modern education system heavily utilizes test as the
main means of assessment, evaluation and comparison. This, however, causes some
students to be very distressed by the negative experience of test taking that
they are not able to reach their potentials. The entire examination experience
for these students becomes excruciatingly painful, with their self-esteem and
motivation put under threat. Students who repeatedly experience test failures
or low test performance despite putting in much effort commonly feel shame and
incompetence (Rothman, 2004).
Examination anxiety is an overwhelming problem for many students. Its effects diminish test performance, lower self-confidence,
increase negative self-talk and can cause physiological disturbances.
Statistically it has been determined that as many as 10 million students in elementary and
secondary schools perform poorly in examination due to anxiety. This
translates to approximately 20% of school children and 25% of college students
having debilitating performance on
test anxiety without regards to gender (Fiore, 2003).
Internationally, a 2.4% over all prevalence rate of
examination anxiety has been estimated as the most powerful obstacle to learning in an educational setting. Understanding students' emotional experiences during
the testing process in particular test anxiety has long been a prime concern
for researchers, educators and counsellors as test anxiety may have deleterious impact on test
performance, academic success and overall wellbeing (Bonacclo & Reeve, 2010).
Poor performance arises not because of intellectual problems
or poor academic preparation, but testing situations create a sense of threat
for those experiencing examination anxiety, consequently forcing students to pursue careers which
may not satisfy their future aspirations (Okoiye & Ajibola, 2011).
Examination anxiety in most cases results in frustration,
which is capable of affecting the totality of the students. It has been noticed
that most students plagued by this social vice may not have been exposed to
appropriate counselling therapies due to the fact that most schools do not
employ the services of a professional guidance counsellor (McNamara, 2000). Scholars like Hong
& Karstensaon (2002) have found a negative correlation between test anxiety
and students’ performance. They believed that a high level of anxiety creates
intrusive thoughts which do not associate with test and do not let students
concentrate in the testing process.
Matthew, Tracy & Scott (2000) posit that examination
anxiety is a serious problem for many students. It has been described as the
most powerful obstacle to learning in an educational setting. Hence examination anxious students
in Nigeria are often overwhelmed by the feeling of inadequacy and distress when
they are faced with new demands of their studies. Once they loose confidence in their abilities, it becomes easy for them to give up, be
withdrawn, and develop irrational doubt, inferiority complex, and deviant
behaviour, acts of truancy, experience hopelessness and helplessness.
In the study by Egbadon (2014), sex, age and school type
differences in experience of examination anxiety among secondary school
students established gender disparity level of students over the years, test
anxiety level of female students is still high. This suggests that the
available therapeutic devices for test anxiety reduction have not been able to
resolve this gender disparity in anxiety manifestation. Looking at literature
on gender issues and anxiety, it is obvious that it is inconclusive, thus, it
becomes justifiable to investigate gender sensitivity on the effectiveness of
cognitive behavioural therapy and rational emotive behaviour therapy in
reducing examination anxiety among senior secondary school students.
Fear of
evaluation, delinquency, social failure, depression, suicide, shame,
aggression, low-motivation, negative self-evaluation and low concentration as
well as an increase in school dropout rate. Other negative connotations include
low self-esteem, reading difficulties and failing scores, disruptive classroom
behaviour, negative thoughts about the school, feelings of unease and fear as
well as memory interruption, particularly concerning phonological processing
are many problems that has been linked to students experiencing examination
anxiety (Keogh & French, 2001; Peleg, 2009).
The experience of test anxiety also
slows down the mind by suppressing clear thoughts and confusing it so that the
problem solving process becomes more complex. Additionally, test anxiety causes
detrimental effects to some somatic processes which can lead to tachycardia,
sweating, muscle tension and can also affect respiration. Aysan, Thompson &
Hamarat (2001) asserted that stress felt from the test can have a negative
physiological effects to the body like hypertension, coronary heart disease,
respiratory distress syndrome and suppressed immune system functioning.
The situation whereby most students
always experience examination anxiety especially when they are about to write
examination needs to be addressed in order to prevent its negative effects on
student’s quality of life, whether it is psychological, emotional. Physical or
academic, examination anxiety, if not addressed can lead to neurotic
difficulties, it stands to reason therefore, that examination anxiety is an
issue that needs attention.
Researchers like Egbochuku &
Obodo (2005); Gregor (2005); Egbochuku, Obodo & Obadan (2008), Yahar &
Cohen (2009) and Akinsola & Nwajei (2013), had conducted studies on the
effectiveness of treatment therapies in reducing examination anxiety among
children and adolescent, no study known to this researcher have investigated
the effectiveness of REBT and CBT in reducing examination anxiety among
students in Edo State. This study is intended to fill this gap, by
investigating the effectiveness of rational emotive beha viour and cognitive behavioural therapies in reducing examination anxiety
among secondary school students in Edo State; investigating the relative effectiveness of rational emotive
behaviour and cognitive
behavioural therapies and to determine the interactive effects of gender and
age on REBT and CBT treatment therapies.
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
i.
determine
the effectiveness of rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) as a method for
reducing examination anxiety among secondary school students;
ii.
determine
the effectiveness
of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), as a treatment measure in reducing examination anxiety among secondary school students;
iii.
compare
the effectiveness of rational emotive behaviour therapy and cognitive
behavioural therapy in reducing examination anxiety among secondary school
students;
iv.
determine
the interactive effects of gender and age on REBT treatment therapy; and to
v.
determine
the interactive effects of gender and age on CBT treatment therapy.
The present study was conducted to determine the
effectiveness of rational emotive behavioural therapy (REBT) and cognitive
behaviour therapy (CBT) in reducing examination anxiety among senior secondary
students. In order to define its goals, four research questions and four
hypotheses were raised.
1
Do the mean examination anxiety pretest and post test
scores of students differ between CBT and REBT therapies as measured by TAI?
2
Is there any interaction effect of gender on the
post-test scores of students treated with REBT and CBT?
3
Is there any interaction effect of age on the post-test
scores of students treated with REBT and CBT?
4
Is there any interaction effects of gender and age on the
post-test scores of students treated with REBT and CBT?
- There is no significant effect of therapies
(CBT and REBT,) on students’ pre-test and post test scores in examination
anxiety as measured by TAI.
- There is no significant interaction effect of gender
on the post-test scores of students treated with REBT and CBT.
- There is no significant interaction effect of age on
the post-test-test scores of students treated with REBT and CBT.
- There is no significant interaction effects of
gender and age on the post- test scores of students treated REBT and CBT.
The results of this study would be beneficial to stakeholders in
the educational system such as guidance
counsellors, school principals, teachers, parents, students, government, and
researchers in the following ways:
The results of this study would
increase school counsellors׳
knowledge on the effective therapies for counselling their students who are
over anxious in evaluative process as counsellors would become aware that
rational emotive behaviour therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy can be
used to reduce examination anxiety of secondary school students. The findings
of the study would also provide information to school counsellors on gender
preference of rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) or cognitive
behavioural therapy (CBT) for proper implementation in single or mixed school
as the case may be.
The findings of this study would enable school principals
to appreciate the presence of school counsellors in their schools by allowing
the school guidance counsellor posted to their schools to provide counselling services for students by acquainting them with available counselling services and programmes that
would be helpful to them, rather
than changing the job description of professional counsellors in their schools.
This would bridge the gap between
the principals, classroom teachers and school counsellors.
The findings of this study would
expose classroom teachers to the negative effects of examination anxiety, this
would help teachers design changes in procedure for testing that would play a
major role in developing and implementing classroom teaching programmes that
would deal with test-taking skills and test motivation.
The findings of this research would also be beneficial to
parents. Educating them on the fact
that their role as parents is to support their children with incentives that
will encourage them and the need to provide conducive environment for their
learning, one devoid of distraction and anxiety inducers and also inform
parents of the danger of setting excessive high standards for their children.
Furthermore, the findings of this study would provide
information to students on examination anxiety, its effects and various intervention
therapies. It would help to create awareness and sensitize students on the
adverse effects that examination anxiety can have on them this would give
students the needed encouragement to seek help when the need arises.
The findings of this
study would be beneficial to the Ministry of Education as a government agency.
Results obtained can be used to develop educational programmes in collaboration
with the home, educational
institutions, non-government organisation and other educational bodies to develop and implement programmes
that would reduce the consequences of examination anxiety among secondary school students in Nigeria.
Finally, It is hoped that the results of this study would be of help to future researchers in Nigeria in the area of literature
review as it would serve as one of the empirical studies on the effectiveness of rational emotive behaviour
therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy in reducing examination anxiety and its related fields in Nigeria.
This study covers effectiveness of REBT and CBT
in reducing examination anxiety in public senior secondary school. Students in Senior Secondary school
one (SS1) and Senior Secondary school two (SS2) classes in Edo State, Nigeria. Only examination
anxious students were selected and exposed to
either one of
the following treatments –
cognitive
behavioural therapy, rational emotive behavior therapy for the reduction of examination anxiety. In this study, the duration of the treatment exposure was seven weeks.
The focus of the study was the effectiveness of rational
emotive behaviour and cognitive behavioural therapies in reducing examination
anxiety among senior secondary school students in Edo state. Only examination
anxious students in senior secondary school 1 (S.S.1) and senior secondary
school 2 (S.S.2) classes were selected for the study. The study involved only
public senior secondary school students in primary schools, Junior secondary
schools and students in universities were not captured in this study. Another
major limitation of this study was coordinating the three experimental centres
which were not in the same locality, was quite challenging for the researcher
and the cost of financing three centres at the same time was also enormous.
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