School-based intervention for academic stress management and school adjustment among industrial technical education students: Implications for educational administrators.

BACKGROUND: The high level of academic stress and maladjustment in the school environment led to this study to investigate the management of academic stress and school adjustment among university students using rational emotive behavioral therapy. METHODS: The study adopted a pretest-posttest control group design. A total of 97 students participated in the study and were measured using an academic stress scale and academic adjustment scale at 3 points. RESULTS: The results of the multivariate statistics indicated the improvement in the management of academic stress and academic adjustment among Industrial Technical Education students following their participation in the rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) treatment and those in the waitlisted control group (WCG) at 3 points. After the treatment, a second assessment shows that the REBT treatment had a significant effect on improvement in academic stress management and academic adjustment among Industrial Technical Education students and was subsequently sustained at follow-up assessment. It was also found that there is no interaction effect of groups and gender. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the reduction in academic stress and improvement in the academic adjustment were due to exposure to rational emotive behavioral therapy. Therefore, school counselors should reach out to students that experiencing a high degree of stress and maladjustment and assist them using rational emotive behavioral therapy.

Factorial validation of sense of community scale using Nigerian mathematics, science, and social science education students: Implication for educational administrators and evaluators.

The ugly occurrences of security breaches have made the Nigerian populace to be leaving in fear. The most affected are the teaming adolescents of the school-age who may not have a good sense of their community. Thus, this study carried out the factorial validation of a 36-item sense of community scale (SoCS) developed by Cicognani et al. since no such study exists in Nigeria. The instrument was adopted and validated. A sample of 357 students in South East Federal Universities, Nigeria, was used for this study using a simple random sampling technique. The instrument's factorial validation was conducted by subjecting the data obtained to factor analysis to determine its validity and reliability. Besides, the principal component matrix with varimax rotation was used to carry out the exploratory and confirmatory factors analyses, while the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) and confirmatory factor index (CFI) were used to determine the data model fit. Findings of the study showed that SoCS demonstrated good reliability (0.89) and model fit (RMSEA = 0.041, CFI = 0.951) in the Nigerian context. SoCS is a reliable scale for measuring the in-school adolescents' sense of community.

Improving work-life balance among administrative officers in Catholic primary schools: Assessing the effect of a Christian religious rational emotive behavior therapy.

OBJECTIVE: Work-life balance (WLB) is an essential precursor of workers' mental health. The theory of rational emotive behaviour therapy proposes that an imbalance in work and family life may result from people's dysfunctional perceptions of their work and other aspects of their personal life. Also, the constructive philosophies of rational emotive behavior therapy are said to be congruent with most religious belief systems of Christian clients. Therefore, our research examined the efficacy of Christian religious rational emotive behaviour therapy (CRREBT) on WLB among administrative officers in Catholic primary schools. METHODS: This is a group randomized trial involving 162 administrative officers from Catholic primary schools in Southeast Nigeria. The treatment process involved an 8-session CRREBT programme. RESULTS: The scores for WLB of the administrative officers enrolled in the CRREBT programme were significantly improved compared to those in the control group at the end of the study. At the follow-up phase, the CRREBT programme proved to be effective over a 3-month period. CONCLUSION: CRREBT is an effective therapeutic strategy for managing WLB among Catholic school administrative officers.