A group-focused rational emotive behavior coaching for management of academic burnout among undergraduate students: Implications for school administrators

Group psychological counseling to contrast academic burnout: a research protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Academic burnout is a condition characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, a distant attitude toward studying, and diminished self-efficacy in academic activities. Preliminary scientific findings indicate that interventions designed to alleviate work burnout also hold promise for mitigating academic burnout, however clear evidence based on randomized controlled trials is still missing. This research protocol describes a randomized controlled trial aimed at evaluating the efficacy of an online group psychological intervention to contrast academic burnout. Participants with high levels of burnout will be assigned to a psychological counseling group or a waiting list control group. The research comprises several phases: (T0) Screening, Recruitment, and Randomization; (T1) Baseline assessment (pre-intervention); (T2) Outcome Assessment (post-intervention); and (T3) Follow-up Assessment (3 months post-intervention). The primary outcomes include burnout symptoms, general wellbeing, and academic achievement. Additionally, secondary variables such as effort-reward imbalances, satisfaction/frustration of basic psychological needs, intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion regulation, coping strategies, and social support will be examined. The psychological intervention strategies will encompass psychoeducation, self-awareness enhancement, cognitive restructuring, and promotion of social support. This research protocol is an initial step toward evidence-based psychological interventions to treat academic burnout.

Management of work stress among arts and science school administrators in Nigeria using rational emotive occupational health coaching: A randomized controlled trial evaluation

BACKGROUND

The working circumstances of the administrators are appalling due to the nature of education in Nigeria. These administrators put in a lot of overtime to fulfill the expectations of their positions, which stresses them out. But there is no information in the literature about how administrators of science schools deal with their demanding environments. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate how administrators of secondary scientific schools in the Southeast could manage work-related stress by using rational and emotive occupational health coaching.

METHODS

A randomized controlled trial (RCT) experimental design was used for the investigation, with 106 people divided into 2 groups-one for the intervention and one for the control. A selection of these participants came from southeast Nigerian special scientific schools. The Occupational Stress Index (OSI) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) served as the foundation for our data collection procedure. A posttest was given following the 12-week intervention, and then there was a 2-month follow-up assessment. Repeated analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilized to ascertain the effects both within and across groups.

RESULTS

It was revealed that rational emotive occupational health coaching had significant effect on the management of work stress among southeast secondary arts and science school administrators, F (2, 208) = 1452.484, P = <.050, ŋ2 = .933, and F (1, 104) = 18076.988, P = <.050, ŋ2 = .994).

CONCLUSION

The management of work stress among southeast secondary arts and science school administrators was significantly improved through rational emotive occupational health coaching.

Psychological Treatment of Exhaustion Due to Persistent Non-Traumatic Stress: A Scoping Review

BACKGROUND

Exhaustion due to persistent non-traumatic stress (ENTS) is a significant health problem with substantial personal, social, and economic impact. While there are increasing studies of ENTS, there is no international agreement on how it should be diagnosed and treated. This scoping review aimed to map definitions, diagnoses, treatments, outcome measures, and outcomes in psychological treatment studies of ENTS. A further aim was to assess the quality of the treatments and map what change processes are described within ENTS interventions.

METHODS

A PRISMA-guided scoping review of psychological treatment studies delivered in a clinical setting for ENTS was conducted using the databases of PubMed, PsycINFO, and CINAHL.

RESULTS

Of the 60 studies included, the majority (87%) stemmed from Europe. The most recurrent term for ENTS was burnout, and the diagnosis most often utilized was exhaustion disorder. Several treatments were reported, the most frequent being cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) (68%). Statistically significant outcomes relevant to ENTS were reported in 65% (n = 39) of the studies, with effect sizes between 0.13 and 1.80. In addition, 28% of the treatments were rated as high quality. The most frequent change processes described were dysfunctional sleep, avoidance, behavioral activation, irrational thoughts and beliefs, worry, perceived competence/positive management, psychological flexibility, and recuperation.

CONCLUSIONS

While several treatments based on CBT show promising results for ENTS, there do not seem to be any uniformly established methods, theoretical models, or change processes. Instead of adopting a monocausal, syndromal, and potentially bio-reductionist perspective on ENTS, a process-based approach to treatment is encouraged.

Assessment of stress management coaching among Nigerian pre-service history teachers: A randomized controlled study

BACKGROUND

Studies have found that pre-service teachers commonly face stressful circumstances that prevent them from completing their academic tasks effectively. In terms of psychological factors and interventions, pre-service history teachers in Nigeria are the least studied group. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of stress management coaching among Nigerian pre-service history teachers.

METHODS

The research participants consisted of a randomized sample of 109 pre-service history teachers from Nigerian public higher education institutions (55 pre-service history teachers composed the stress management coaching group while 54 pre-service history teachers composed the waitlist control group). The stress management coaching for the pre-service history teachers was guided by a coaching manual created using the theoretical framework of rational emotive behavior coaching.

RESULTS

Pre-service history teachers who participated in stress management coaching showed significantly reduced stress levels at the post-test and follow-up. There was an interaction effect between group and time on the stress of pre-service history teachers.

CONCLUSION

The study suggests that pre-service history teachers can benefit from a stress management coaching intervention that uses the rational emotive behavior coaching approach. The development of this form of stress management coaching program on a large scale among pre-service history teachers could prove beneficial to their academic and personal success. Studies may be conducted in the future to examine the stress of history teachers in colleges and the efficacy of stress management coaching.

Evaluating Coaching Intervention for Financial Risk Perception and Credit Risk Management in a Nigerian Sample

There is no doubt that a negative perception of financial risk and a lack of credit risk management adversely impact business growth and business owners’ wellbeing. Past studies suggest that most Nigerian traders have poor risk perceptions and manage risk poorly. A business coaching program within rational-emotive behavior therapy framework (REBT-based business coaching) was evaluated in order to determine its effects on financial risk perception and credit risk management among Nigerian traders. This study used an open-label parallel randomized control design. This 8-weeks coaching program had 60 traders in the REBT-based business coaching group and 59 traders in the control group. The mixed-model repeated measures ANOVA was utilized for analysis of the study data. Results show that relative to a control group, traders’ financial risk perception [F(1.09,127.15) = 637.29, p &lt; 0.001, ω2 = 0.69] and credit risk management [F(1.55,181.22) = 795.51, p &lt; 0.001, ω2 = 0.80] significantly improved after participating in REBT-based business coaching program. This study shows that REBT-based business coaching program is integral to increasing financial risk perception and credit risk management among Nigerian traders. This study contributes to the advancement of business coaching program within the rational-emotive behavior therapy framework for market traders, and its application in similar situations. The study considered the benefits of business coaching program for market traders from a developing country, which is a rarely studied group. It is highly recommended that professionals study the relationship between REBT-based business coaching and economic decision-making within various organizational contexts.

Academic burnout among undergraduate history students: Effect of an intervention

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to examine the effect of an online psychological intervention on academic burnout of undergraduate history students in Nigeria.

METHOD

The sample for the study consists of burned-out undergraduate history students selected randomly from public universities. A total of 18 undergraduate history students with moderate to high burnout symptoms were randomly allocated to the online intervention group, while 17 were randomly assigned to the waitlist control group.

RESULTS

The use of online rational emotive behavior therapy (online REBT) effectively reduced academic burnout and sustained this significant reduction among Nigerian undergraduate history students compared with a waitlist control condition.

CONCLUSION

Online rational emotive behavior therapy intervention delivered to undergraduate history students brought about a significant decrease in academic burnout. Further studies should expand the benefits of online psychological intervention for burnout treatment among Nigerian undergraduate history students.

Management of work stress in science education lecturers' population using rational emotive occupational health coaching: Implication for educational evaluators

INTRODUCTION

Nigerian university lecturers face a lot of works in the day-to-day discharge of their responsibilities as academics. This constitutes a lot of stress for them as documented in the literature. However, literature is scarce on how these lecturers manage their work stress. Thus, the researchers explored the efficacy of rational emotive occupational health coaching (REOHC) on the management of work stress among lecturers.

METHOD

A randomised controlled trial group experimental research design was adopted using a sample size of 84 lecturers in Science Education Departments of the sampled universities. An occupational stress index was used in the gathering of necessary data for the study. The REOHC treatment lasted for 12 weeks after which the participants were posttested and a follow-up measure followed after 3 months of the termination of the treatment. Repeated measures analysis of variance statistical approach was used to analyse the obtained data.

RESULTS

It was revealed that REOHC was significantly (p < 0.05) effective in the management of work stress in a population of science education lecturers in Nigeria.

CONCLUSION

REOHC enables science education lecturers to effectively manage their work stress to maximise their work outputs. This finding implicates the expertise of Educational Evaluators.

Effects of rational emotive occupational health coaching on work stress among academic staff of science and social science education in Nigerian universities: A randomised trial evaluation

BACKGROUND

This study determined the effects of rational emotive occupational health coaching on the management of work stress among academic staff of science and social science education in south east Nigerian universities.

METHOD

A randomized controlled trial experimental design was adopted for the study with a sample size of 63 participants who were randomized into an intervention group (n = 32) and control group (n = 31). Occupational stress index and perceived stress scale were used for data collection. The intervention program was administered for 12 weeks after which posttest was administered and a 2-month follow-up measure followed. Mixed-design repeated analysis of variance was used to determine the within-groups and between-groups effects.

RESULTS

The findings of the study revealed that there was no significant difference between the baseline, and the nonintervention group did not change over time in their management of work stress. However, the mean stress of the intervention group decreased over time than that of the control group.

CONCLUSION

Rational emotive occupational health coaching had significant effects on the management of work stress among academic staff of science and social science education.

Effect of Interventions on Learning Burnout: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objectives: This study aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of all intervention for learning burnout by meta-analyzing their effects.

Methods: Relevant studies that had been published up to September 18, 2020, were identified through a systematic search of the PubMed, Web of Science, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wan Fang databases. Eligible studies included randomized control trials of any learning burnout intervention conducted among students. The Jadad scale was used to evaluate the quality of the study. Random-effect meta-analyses, subgroup analyses, meta-regression analysis, and sensitivity analysis were conducted. Funnel plots and Egger's tests were used to evaluate publication bias. Duval and Tweedie's non-parametric trim-and-fill method was used to adjust the effect of publication bias.

Results: Of the 5,245 articles found, 39 met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review. There were 3,400 students, including 1,847 students in the intervention group and 1,553 in the control group. A meta-analysis of 44 studies showed that the interventions were effective. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to education, scales, intervention measures, and intervention time. The results showed that, compared with the control group, the learning burnout scores of undergraduates, secondary vocational students, and middle school students were significantly lower. Based on different scales, all interventions were also effective. The funnel plot was asymmetric and consistent with the results of Egger's test. The trim-and-fill method was used, and seven missing studies were merged to obtain a symmetric funnel plot.

Conclusions: This meta-analysis indicated that learning burnout interventions are effective. The subgroup analyses showed that group counseling is the most widely used, exercise intervention is probably the most effective, and 8 weeks or more is the appropriate intervention time. An integrated intervention study based on the factors of learning burnout adds value. More studies are needed to supplement the results in the future.

Investigation of burnout syndrome among electrical and building technology undergraduate students in Nigeria

BACKGROUND

The investigation of burnout among undergraduate students is yet to receive the same amount of attention as burnout in employees. Despite the negative effects of burnout among students, there is dearth of literature on burnout problem among electrical and building technology undergraduate students. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the burnout levels and the effect of rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) on symptoms of burnout among electrical and building technology undergraduate students in South-East zone of Nigeria.

METHOD

A group randomized trial design involving a treatment group versus no-treatment group was adopted for this study. One hundred fifty four undergraduate students of electrical and building technology who met the study's inclusion criteria were selected from public universities in the South-East zone of Nigeria. The intervention consisted of 10 weeks of REBT treatment and 8 weeks of follow-up meetings conducted at 4 months. A self-report questionnaire was used for data collection. Repeated-measures analysis of variance, paired sample t test, and Chi-Squared were used for data analysis.

RESULTS

The outcome indicated that the levels of burnout syndrome among the students are high and REBT had a significant effect on the symptoms of burnout syndrome among the electrical and building technology students in the treatment group compared to their counterparts in the no-treatment group. Finally, the positive gains were significantly maintained by the treatment group at follow-up.

CONCLUSION

The current study suggests that an REBT program can be effective for dealing with burnout syndrome among the population of undergraduate students of electrical and building technology in Nigeria.