EFFICACY OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL AND ASSERTIVENESS TRAINING THERAPIES IN MANAGING LOW SELF-ESTEEM

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the efficacy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Assertiveness Training Therapy on self-esteem among primary school pupils in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State. It also examined the interaction effects of treatment by sex, age and socio-economic status of primary school pupils at post-test. To guide the study, seven (7) research questions were raised, the corresponding hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted quasi-experimental research design using the pre-test, post-test, non-equivalent control group design, involving pupils in intact classes randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The population of the study consisted of nine thousand, three hundred and fifty-eight (9,358) primary five (5) pupils in public primary schools in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State. The study had a sample of one hundred and fifty-eight (158) participants made up of seventy-four (74) males and eighty-four (84) females who were identified as having low self-esteem and selected using multi-stage sampling procedure. The three selected schools were randomly assigned as school A, B, and C. Self-Esteem Scale was adapted from Rosenberg (1965) and Hare (1975). The validity of the instrument was determined by the researcher’s two supervisors and a test expert from the Department of Educational Evaluation and Counselling Psychology (EECP), Faculty of Education, University of Benin. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach alpha statistics to assess the internal consistency of the items in the instrument and an index of 0.86 was obtained which shows that the instrument is reliable. The instrument was administered to the participants as a pre-test to identify pupils who have low self-esteem. The treatment package comprised of two (2) experimental groups and a control group which are treatment group A for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, B (Assertiveness Training Therapy) and C (Control group). A post-test was administered to determine the effectiveness of the therapies. The treatment programme lasted for a period of six weeks of two sessions per week, making a total of 12 treatment sessions of 40 minutes per session. The findings of this study revealed that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Assertiveness Training Therapy are effective on self-esteem of primary school pupils. The study revealed among others that there was a significant difference in the post-test selfesteem mean scores of pupils exposed to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Assertiveness Training Therapy and Control group. Assertiveness Training Therapy was more effective than Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. This was revealed in the mean values of the participants. It was also found that sex, and parents’ socio-economic status of pupils had no significant interaction effects on the self-esteem of pupils on treatment. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that since the level of self-esteem was found to be low among the pupils before treatment, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Assertiveness Training Therapy should be applied by school counsellors and class teachers in helping pupils to improve their self-esteem.