EFFECTS OF COGNITIVE RESTRUCTURING AND REALITY THERAPIES ON STRESS MANAGEMENT AMONG MOTHERS OF PUPILS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY IN IBADAN, NIGERIA

Abstract

Stress management is an intervention which enables individuals to cope with stressors and negative emotions, physiological arousal and health consequences derived from these stressors. However, scientific reports have shown that mothers of Pupils with Intellectual Disability (PID) in Nigeria have poor stress management skills. Previous studies on stress management have interrogated various factors such as emotional, psychological well-being and social support. However, there is scarcity of literature on interventions through Cognitive Restructuring Therapy (CRT) and Reality Therapy (RT), Thus, this study determined the effects of CRT and RT on stress management among mothers of PID in special schools in Ibadan, Nigeria. The moderating effects of Socio-economic Status (SeS) and Maternal Employment (ME) were also examined. The study was anchored to the Cognitive Mediational Theory and was a quasi- experimental study-design with 3 arms, 2 experimental groups and 1 control group, with assessment at baseline and at 8 weeks. Three schools with PID (one per LGA) were purposively selected based on availability of PID. Sixty mothers of PID were randomly selected (20 per school). The participants were randomly assigned to CRT (20), RT (20) and Control (20) groups after being screened with Cohen Perceived Stress scale (r=0.80). The instruments used were Slosson Intelligence Test for Children and Adults (r=0.86), and Socio-economic Status (r=0.70) scales. The treatment lasted eight weeks. Data were analysed using Analysis of covariance and Scheffe post-hoc test at 0.05 level of significance. The respondents’ age was 39.92± 6.85 years, 90.0% were employed, 61.7% were of low SeS, 31.7% were of middle SeS, while 6.6% were of high SeS. There was a significant main effect of treatment on management of stress, (F(2;49)= 53.291, partial ƞ2=0 .521). Participants exposed to CRT experienced the lowest level of stress (13.07) followed by the participants in RT (18.06) and control (23.75) groups. There was a significant main effect of ME status on the management of stress (F(2;49) = 4.825, partial ƞ2 = 0.09). The employed participants exposed to RT had a higher mean score (95.0) than the unemployed (5.0). There was no significant main effect of SeS. There was a significant interaction effect of ME and SeS on the management of stress (F(2;49) = 5.728, partial ƞ2= 0.27). The participants with low SeS in CRT obtained higher mean score (61.7) than participants with high SeS (6.6). The two-way interaction effects of treatment and ME and SeS were not significant. The three-way interaction effect was not significant. Cognitive restructuring, was more effective than reality therapies, in managing stress among mothers of pupils with intellectual disability in Ibadan, Nigeria. These therapies should be adopted by special educators to improve maternal stress management