Improving quality of family life among Christian parents of children with low vision in Nsukka catholic diocese using rational emotive family health therapy.

BACKGROUND: Most Christian parents living with children with low vision have reported to be experiencing psychological disturbances that are affecting the family health. As a result, the quality of family life is being impaired. The experience of parents catering for children with low vision is mainly influenced by psychosocial factors that could determine the quality of family life of such parents. This present study is to investigate the efficacy of rational emotive family health therapy in reducing poor quality of family life among Christian parents of children with low vision in Nsukka Catholic Dioceses. METHOD: This is a randomized pretest and posttest control trial. Participants were 88 parents of children living with low vision in Nsukka Catholic Dioceses, Nigeria. The power of the sample size was determined using Gpower statistical software. The participants in rational emotive family health therapy programme-group were exposed to a 12-session treatment programme whereas their counterparts in waitlisted control group did not receive anything. A family quality of life scale was utilized in assessing the participants. Data analyses were performed using repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS: It was found that rational emotive family health therapy had a significant positive effect on increasing quality of family life among the study participants compared to those in the waitlisted control group. CONCLUSION: This study contributed and validated the efficacy of rational emotive family health therapy in improving quality of family life among parents of children with low vision.

Impact of cognitive behavioural play therapy on social anxiety among school children with stuttering deficit: A cluster randomised trial with three months follow-up.

BACKGROUND: Stuttering is a speech deficit which is characterized by obstruction of speech eloquence and verbal expression in addition to involuntary flow of air during communication. School children with communication deficit often experience social anxiety in their immediate environment. Currently, reports show that a good number of children with communication deficits are prone to social maladjustment due to their being socially inept. And this has significantly affected their thought pattern, social behaviours and emotional responses. In view of this, we examined the impact of cognitive behavioural play therapy in reducing social anxiety among school children with stuttering. METHOD: This is a pretest-posttest randomized control group design. Participants were 178schoolchildren in inclusive schools in South east Nigeria. Participants in the intervention group were treated using cognitive behavioural play therapy programme (CBPT). Participants in the waitlist control group were only assessed at three points of assessment. Data analyses were completed using repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS: The results show that cognitive behavioural play therapy is beneficial in decreasing schoolchildren's social anxiety scores. The intervention equally showed the considerable impacts on the children when exposed to cognitive behavioural play programme at different times of assessment compared to waitlisted control group. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that CBPT is a long-term psychotherapeutic programme that has significant impacts in reducing social anxiety among children with stuttering. This study makes a leading contribution on the limited scholarship focusing on the impact of CBPT on social anxiety of special population with stuttering deficits in developing countries.

Influence of parental education levels on eating habits of pupils in Nigerian primary schools.

This study investigated the eating habits of pupils in Nigerian primary schools based on the respective education levels of their parents.Data were obtained using the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ). Participants included a total of 144 pupils who were purposively selected from 6 primary schools. Based on responses, a cross-sectional analytic study design was implemented to investigate how parental education levels (PELs) influenced the eating habits of their children. Data assessment was performed using a one-way between-group analysis of variance at the .05 probability level.PELs significantly affected the eating habits of participants, respectively. Specifically, low PEL was associated with more satiety responsiveness to food (F [2, 141] = 14.251, P < .001), higher responsiveness to food (F [2, 141] = 36.943, P = <.001) greater food enjoyment (F [2, 141] = 93.322, P < .001), greater drinking desires (F [2, 141] = 23.677, P < .001), and the tendency for emotional over-eating (F [2, 141] = 13.428, P < .001), while high PEL was associated with slower eating (F [2, 141] = 11.665, P < .001), fussier responses to food (F [2, 141] = 14.865, P < .001), and a higher tendency for emotional under-eating (F [2, 141] = 5.137, P < .01).This study examined PELs in relation to the respective eating habits of their children, who were attending Nigerian primary schools. Data showed that children with parents who had high, middle, and low education levels tended to exhibit progressively worse eating habits, in descending order.

Bullying experience of pupils in Nigerian primary schools.

Childhood bullying leads to life-long scars and hinders adult development. Schoolchildren involved in bullying are at risk of developing behavioural difficulties, physical health problems and suicidal ideation. This research aimed to evaluate the bullying experience of pupils in Nigerian primary schools.The study is a cross-sectional analytic survey conducted from June to November 2019. A total of 1080 pupils in participated in the study. A self-report questionnaire containing 3 questions was used for collecting data. Analysis of the collected data was done using percentage and Chi-Squared at 0.05 probability level.Results indicate that 51.4% of the male pupils and 50.8% of females reported being victims of bullying. 51.8% of the males and 49.5% of females were found to be perpetrators of bullying. 39.6% of the males and 42.9% of the females were bystanders of bullying. 35.1% of the males and 34.1% of females have experienced any 2 of the categories while 11.2% of the males and 12.4% of the females have experienced all the categories of bullying. Results show a non-significant difference between male and female pupils on bullying victimization (χ = .036, P = .849), bullying perpetration (χ = .589, P = .443), and bullying bystander problem (χ = 1.194, P = .275).In conclusion, school bullying is an increasing problem among Nigerian schoolchildren. Initiatives must, therefore, be taken by the Nigerian government to further prevent and counter bullying problem in Nigerian primary schools. Interventions aimed at helping schools to develop effective policies to reduce bullying behaviour among pupils should be initiated.