COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPIES AND INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP SKILLS OF NON-ACADEMIC STAFF UNION LEADERS IN SELECTED UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

The incessant industrial actions by Non–Academic Staff Union of Education and Associated Institutions (NASU), particularly in Nigerian public universities are partly attributed to poor Interpersonal Relationship Skills (IpRSs) by the leaders. Previous studies have focused more on postures, travails, struggles, general performance of the leaders with little emphasis on reshaping and modifying their behaviour using Cognitive behavioural therapies CBTs. This study, therefore, examined the effects of two CBTs (Acceptance and Commitment - ACT and Dialectical Behavioural Therapies - DBT) on IpRSs of NASU leaders in federal universities in Southwestern Nigeria. The moderating effects of locus of control and level of educational attainment were also examined. Social Exchange Theory and Peplau‟s Theory of Interpersonal Relations were deployed as the framework, while the pretest-posttest control group delayed quasi-experimental design with 3x2x3 factorial matrix was adopted. Three of the six federal universities in the southwest (University of Ibadan- UI, University of Lagos- Unilag and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta- FUNAAB) were randomly selected and assigned to ACT - UI (8), DBT - Unilag (8) and control - FUNAAB (8). The intact NASU executive councils in the three institutions were enumerated. Treatment lasted eight weeks, while a two week post-treatment observation was done. Instruments used were IpRSs Inventory, IpRSs Questionnaire with seven subscales- Communication and Listening Skills (r=0.91), Negotiation Skills (r=0.83), Problemsolving skills (r=0.90), Decision-making Skills (r=0.78) and Assertiveness Skills (r=0.80), and ACT and DBT guides. Descriptive statistics were used to analysed demographic data and main data was analysed using Analysis of Covariance at 0.05 level of significance. Participants‟ mean age was 45±5.0 years, while majority (87.5%; 83.3%) were male and married, respectively. They possessed school certificate (29.2%), bachelor‟s degrees (45.8%) and postgraduate degrees (25.0%), while their years of service ranged as follows: 1-10 (12.5%), 11- 20 (37.5%), 21-30 (33.3%) and 31 years and above (16.7%). There was a significant main effect of treatment on IpRSs F (2;20) =74.67; n2=0.88). Participants in ACT had a higher post-treatment mean score (274.3) than those in DBT (254.3) and control (143.7). The main effects of locus of control and educational attainment on IpRSs were not significant. The two-way interaction effects of treatment and locus of control, treatment, and educational attainment as well as locus of control and educational attainment were not significant. There was a significant three-way interaction of treatment, locus of control and educational attainment F (2;20) =6.98; n2=0.44). Post-treatment possession of IpRSs among the NASU leadership ranked as follows: verbal communication (67.4%), listening (64.0%), decision-making (63.4%), negotiation (62.2%), problem-solving (62.0%) and assertiveness (57.0%). Acceptance and commitment therapy more than dialectical behavioural therapy enhanced the interpersonal relationship skills of non-academic Staff Union leaders in federal universities in Southwestern Nigeria. There is the need to adopt the two therapies more regularly during induction training programmes for trade union leaders regardless of their level of education.