Impact of two counselling strategies in the reduction of truancy among senior secondary school students in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the impact of social learning and cognitive behaviour therapies in reducing truancy among public senior secondary school students in Lagos State, Nigeria. Social Learning and Cognitive Behaviour therapies among senior secondary schools students (boys/girls). 130 students participated in the study. Quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test control group research design was adopted. The Truancy Questionnaire (TQ) was used to gather relevant data. The reliability coefficient obtained using test-retest reliability was 0.62. Two research questions were raised and corresponding hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Mean, standard deviation and Analysis of Covariance statistics (ANCOVA) were used to test the hypotheses. The investigation revealed that there is significant difference in the post-test scores on truancy among participants exposed to Social Learning and Cognitive therapies while the participants in the control group reported no significant difference. Both counselling strategies were effective in alleviating the rate of truancy among the senior secondary school students. The study recommended Social Learning and Cognitive Behaviour therapies in the reduction of truancy among the students.