The effect of a video-guided educational technology intervention on the academic self-concept of adolescent students with hearing impairment: Implications for physical education

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE

Academic self-concept is an important construct within the disciplines of medicine, psychology, and education. Enhancing the academic self-concept of students with special educational needs is very crucial because it is associated with their quality of life. This study aimed to examine the effect of a video-guided educational technology intervention on the academic self-concept of adolescents with hearing impairment who were attending inclusive nonresidential public schools in Southeast Nigeria.

METHODS

This study adopted a randomized controlled trial design. The participants were 60 junior secondary students with hearing impairment. We implemented a video-guided educational technology intervention. It relied on the use of 13-minute video clips with captions/subtitles, which covered academic self-concept-related themes. The Academic Self-Concept Questionnaire, which has been developed by Liu and Wang, was used to collect baseline, posttreatment, and follow-up data. We conducted independent-samples and paired t test and computed Cohen d and Glass Δ to analyze the data.

RESULTS

The video-guided educational technology intervention significantly improved the academic self-concept of the treatment group participants, when compared with the care-as-usual control group participants, t(58) = 9.07, P < .001. These improvements in academic self-concept were sustained at follow up among the treatment group participants, when compared with the care-as-usual control group participants, t(48.56) = 10.898, P < .001. Within-subjects comparisons showed that the academic self-concept of the treatment group participants had significantly improved across the different time points at which they were assessed.

CONCLUSION

The video-guided educational technology intervention was effective in improving the academic self-concept of adolescents with hearing impairment who were attending inclusive nonresidential public schools. Large-scale studies are needed to maximize the impact of video-guided educational technology interventions on students with hearing impairments who attend inclusive non residential public schools in Nigeria.

Effect of digital storytelling intervention on burnout thoughts of adolescent: Athletes with disabilities

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE

Both athletes with and without disabilities can develop burnout symptoms. However, athletes with disabilities may face different or more challenges compared to their counterparts without disabilities. The present study aimed at ascertaining the effect of digital storytelling intervention on burnout thoughts of adolescent-athletes with disabilities.

METHOD

This study is a randomized controlled trial involving a total of 171 adolescent-athletes with disabilities who showed a high degree of burnout symptoms. These adolescent-athletes were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n = 85) or a waitlisted control group (n = 86). The treatment intervention for the adolescent-athletes was digital stories which were created based on the framework of rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT). The Athlete Burnout Questionnaire was used for gathering of data at three different times (baseline, post-test and follow up). Data were analyzed using repeated measure analysis of variance at a significant level of 0.05.

RESULTS

Results showed that the digital storytelling intervention based on REBT significantly reduced burnout thoughts among disabled adolescent-athletes in the intervention group compared to athletes in the waitlisted control group as measured by the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire. Additionally, at follow-up evaluation, it was observed that the decrease in burnout scores was maintained by those athletes in the digital storytelling intervention.

CONCLUSION

Digital storytelling intervention based on rational emotive behaviour therapy shows great potentials in addressing burnout among adolescent-athletes with disabilities.

Effect of video-guided educational intervention on school engagement of adolescent students with hearing impairment: Implications for health and physical education

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE

Hearing impaired students still face stigmatization and marginalization especially in inclusive classrooms in developing regions. This negatively impacts their school engagement. The present study aimed at ascertaining the effect of video-guided educational intervention on school engagement of hearing impaired students.

METHOD

Randomized controlled trial design was adopted for the present study. A total of 46 junior secondary school students with hearing impairment and low school engagement symptoms participated in this study. The students were randomly assigned to groups - intervention group and care-as-usual control group. A video-guided educational intervention package which consists of 13-minutes captioned video clips with school engagement themes served as the treatment intervention. Data were collected at 3 different times (pre-test, post-test and follow up) using School Engagement Scale created by Fredericks, Blumenfeld, Friedel and Paris (2005). Data were analyzed using independent sample t-test, paired sample t-test, Cohen d and Chi-square.

RESULTS

Results showed that the video-guided educational intervention significantly improved school engagement level among hearing impaired adolescent students in the intervention group in comparison with the students in the care-as-usual control group as measured by the Student Engagement Scale [Behavioral: t(24) = -9.305, P < .001; Emotional: t(24) = -7.772, P < .001; Cognitive: t(24) = -7.330 P < .001) as well as total student engagement (t(24) = 12.022, P < .001, Δ = 5.362). Also, the students who took part in the video-guided educational intervention maintained improved school engagement at follow-up.

CONCLUSION

Video-guided educational intervention is an effective intervention for improving school engagement of hearing impaired adolescent students. Since acquiring relevant education is essential for leading a quality life especially among the special needs population, it was recommended that students with hearing impairment should be helped to acquire life skills through education by fostering their school engagement.

Intervention for depression among chemistry education undergraduates in a Nigerian university

Objective

We assessed the efficacy of a rational-emotive behaviour therapy psycho-educational programme in reducing depression among chemistry education undergraduates in a Nigerian university.

Methods

Twenty-three chemistry education undergraduates with major depressive disorder were randomised to a treatment group (12) or control group (11). Students were scored using Beck’s Depression Inventory three times (pre-test, post-treatment, and follow-up). An evidence-based protocol for combating depression was used in the treatment. Controls received counselling. Data were evaluated using univariate analysis of variance and two-way mixed analysis of variance.

Results

Mean depression scores did not differ between groups prior to the intervention. Rational-emotive behaviour therapy was effective in reducing depression scores.

Conclusion

Rational-emotive behaviour therapy is an effective tool in assisting university undergraduates (of chemistry education) to manage depression.

Rational emotive intervention for stress management among english education undergraduates: Implications for school curriculum innovation

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE

Different studies have shown the prevalence of high level of stress among undergraduate students. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT) as a stress management intervention among English Education undergraduates in Universities in Southeastern Nigeria.

METHOD

The study adopted a group randomized trial design. One hundred sixteen samples of English education undergraduates (with a high level of perceived stress) took part in the study. These students were randomly assigned to groups - intervention group(n = 58) and no-intervention control group (n = 58). The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) was used for data collection. The collected data were analyzed using 2-way mixed repeated measure ANOVA and independent sample t test at 0.05 probability level.

RESULT

Results showed that an REBT program significantly reduced the stress among English education undergraduates in the intervention group compared to the students in the control group as measured by PSS-14. Also, the English education undergraduates who benefited from the REBT program maintained the reduction in stress after 3 months when the researchers conducted a follow-up.

CONCLUSION

REBT program can be used to equip undergraduate students with the necessary skills to manage stress. The implications for curriculum innovation were highlighted.

Viewpoint on realigning the Nigerian secondary school curriculum to prevent communicable diseases

The school is an important agent of community health promotion through its curricular and extracurricular activities. This article highlights the various actions that could be taken to realign the Nigerian secondary school curriculum to prevent communicable diseases. The documentary research approach was used to identify and examine relevant literature sources, and to analyse and synthesise the information obtained. The results indicated that realigning the Nigerian secondary school curriculum to prevent communicable diseases would require several actions, such as the inclusion of school health and well-being in the objectives of Nigeria’s National Policy on Education (NPE). We also observed that as school curriculum objectives and activities are based on the NPE, the incorporation of health education as a core theme in the policy could help to realign the curriculum and adequately prepare secondary school students to combat communicable diseases. Recommendations include the development of more school-targeted health research projects to provide curriculum planners with reliable data to make proactive and informed curriculum innovation decisions regarding communicable disease prevention in Nigerian secondary schools.

Intervention for burnout among English education undergraduates: implications for curriculum innovation

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE

The present study investigated the effect of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) intervention on burnout among English education undergraduates in southeastern Nigeria.

METHOD

The study adopted a randomized controlled trial design. A total of 96 English education undergraduates with high burnout symptoms in the participating universities took part in the study. These were randomly assigned to groups - intervention group (n = 48) and control group (n = 48). The Oldenburg Burnout Inventory for students (OLBI-S) was used for data collection. The collected data were analyzed using 2-way mixed repeated measure ANOVA at .05 probability level.

RESULT

Results showed that the REBT program significantly reduced the burnout level among English education undergraduates in the intervention group compared to the students in the no-intervention control group as measured by the OLBI-S subscales. Also, the students who benefited from the REBT program maintained reduced burnout levels when the researchers conducted a follow-up.

CONCLUSION

Given the present finding, the REBT program is an effective intervention for preventing and managing burnout among students. The present study has important curriculum innovation implications as far as English education is concerned especially in the Nigerian context. This intervention program can be included in the students' curriculum activities so as to equip the students with necessary therapeutic skills to manage burnout symptoms presently and in the future.

Viewpoint on Family Life and HIV Education curriculum in Nigerian secondary schools

The Family Life and HIV Education curriculum was developed to drive Nigeria’s school-based HIV intervention strategy for disseminating information about HIV/AIDS and curbing the threat of HIV/AIDS among adolescents and young people. In this paper, we aimed to identify the strengths and constraints in the Family Life and HIV Education curriculum and its implementation, and we suggest possible solutions to boost its effectiveness and impact. We reviewed the curriculum and searched other pertinent literature to identify factors found to undermine the effectiveness and impact of this curriculum, as used in Nigerian secondary schools. We then proffered possible solutions to these factors. It is recommended that greater collaboration and sharing of ideas and experiences across sectors involved in HIV/AIDS prevention efforts be encouraged, to yield relevant information for more efficient innovation in the Family Life and HIV Education curriculum, which can lead to its greater effectiveness and impact.