The impact of cognitive behaviour therapy and systematic desensitization technique on pre and post-natal disorders of women in Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the impact of cognitive behaviour therapy and systematic desensitization and relaxation techniques on pre and postnatal disorders of women in Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. 120 women comprising pregnant and nursing mothers participated in the study. Quasi experimental pre-test/post-test control group research design was adopted. The researcher-constructed questionnaire was administered in other to gather relevant data of the pregnant and nursing mothers.. Two research questions were raised and corresponding hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Mean, standard deviation and analysis of variance statistics (ANOVA) were used to test the hypotheses. The investigation revealed that there is a significant difference in the post-test scores on psychosomatic disorders and educational qualification among participants exposed to cognitive behaviour, systematic desensitization and relaxation therapies. The participants on the control group reported no significant difference. Both counselling strategies were effective in alleviation of psychosomatic disorders and high educational qualification among the pregnant and nursing women.