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Effectiveness of rational emotive behaviour therapy in the reduction of examination Anxiety among secondary school students in Edo State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT This study investigated the effectiveness of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) in reducing examination anxiety of senior secondary school students in Edo State. The study adopted the pre-test–post-test, control group, quasi-experimental study design. The instrument used was the Nigerian version of Spielberger’s Test Anxiety Inventory. Students with scores ≥51 were considered to be test anxious. A total of 160 test anxious students were assigned to the experimental and control groups. The Experimental group was exposed to seven weeks training in the REBT, while participants in the control group received training in Health Education. The effect of the therapy (REBT) was significant at 0.05 alpha level(1F = 2, 220) = 54.66, P = .000. There was no significant 2-way interaction between therapy and gender (F = 1.573; P > 0.210). The result suggested that the REBT treatment approach was a success in reducing examination anxiety of the students. It was therefore recommended that school counselling psychologists/counsellors in Nigeria should continuously update their skills in the use of the REBT to assist secondary school students to overcome their test anxiety disorder.