Effect of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy on Reducing Bullying Among Secondary School Students
Abstract
Chinweuba N H Phd and Onyia Chukuebuka Frank
This study is an attempt to determine the efficacy of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) on reducing bullying behaviour among secondary school students in Nsukka Education Zone of Enugu State. The population of the study consisted of 653 bullies in all the senior secondary school two (SS11) in Nsukka Education Zone. A sample size of eighty-three (83) students identified as bullies using the Bullying Behavior Inventory (BBI) was used for the study. They were randomized into two equal groups for experimental and control groups. The experimental group was treated with cognitive behaviour therapy for six (6) weeks while the control group received no treatment. The study a quasi-experimental design. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. BBI had its content validity estimated by the total item cumulative variance of 75.25% while its construct validity estimated by factor loading matrixes ranged between 0.45 and 0.88. The reliability was established using cronbach alpha at r=0.80, p<0.05 level of significance. Data collected were analyzed with mean, standard deviation. Results showed that cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) had significant efficacy on reducing bullying among secondary school students as determined by their pretest and posttest mean scores. Cognitive behavior therapy had significant efficacy of reducing bullying on the experimental group. Based on the findings, recommendations were made including that students with bullying behaviour should be encouraged to go for counseling sessions and counselors should be trained on the proper application of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and that the government and counseling Association of Nigeria (CASSON) should organize workshops and seminars to sensitize and train counselors on how to use Cognitive Behaviour Therapy to help students subdue their bullying behaviours.