Effectiveness of dialectical behaviour therapy in reduction of test anxiety among students with learning disabilities in Oyo state, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) in reduction of test anxiety among secondary school students with learning disabilities. The study adopted pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design with 2x3x2 factorial matrix. Purposive random sampling technique was used to select 42 participants from two private secondary schools in Ogbomosho, Oyo State. The participants were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The instruments used were: Pupils Rating Scale (r=0.83); Stanford Achievement Test: reading comprehension (r=0.79), Mathematics (r=.71) and Westside Test Anxiety Scale (r=0.75). Three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data were analysed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). There was main effect of treatment on test anxiety of the participants (F_(1,29) = 101.875; P = 0.000 < 0.05)). Participants exposed to DBT (X=25.725) exhibited lesser degree of test anxiety compared with control group (X=36.392) There was, however, no main effect of types of learning disabilities (dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia) on the test anxiety of the participants. No main effect of gender on test anxiety of the participants was observed. It was recommended that conscious efforts should be made by clinical, counselling, and educational psychologists as well as other stakeholders working with students with learning disabilities to adopt the therapy (DBT) when handling test anxiety among people with cognitive impairment.

Keywords: Dialectical behaviour therapy; Learning disabilities, Test anxiety, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia