Efficacy of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy on Academic Anxiety Disorder among In-School Adolescents in Abia State

Abstract

This study investigated the efficacy of rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) on academic anxiety disorder among in-school adolescents in Abia State. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design employing the pre-test-post-test, non-randomized control group design. The sample of the study consisted of 24 in-school adolescents purposively drawn from 320 Senior Secondary Two (SS II) students identified with academic anxiety disorder using Academic Anxiety Disorder Identification Questionnaire (AADIQ) in public secondary schools in Abia State in 2023/2024 academic session. Data were collected with a 30-item questionnaire - Academic Anxiety Disorder Identification Questionnaire (AADIQ). The instrument was validated by three experts. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation was conducted and reliability index of 0.74 was obtained. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the internal consistency which yielded an index value of 0.84. Data were collected in three phases of pre-treatment, post treatment and follow-up periods. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings showed that REBT significantly reduced academic anxiety disorder among in-school adolescents treated leading to the conclusion that REBT was efficacious in the reduction of academic anxiety disorder among in-school adolescents in Abia State. It was thus recommended that school counsellors should effectively use rational emotive behaviour therapy to reduce academic anxiety disorder among in-school adolescents.