Background/Objective:From a rational emotive behavior therapy viewpoint, stress-related disorders originate from irrational beliefs and self-defeating philosophies and attitude. Individuals affected by stress are different from those ones with neurotic problems mainly because the stressed individuals have irrational beliefs about specific, short-term, or more readily identifiable events, in contrast to the more mundane and diffuse difficulties faced by neurotic persons. The present study aimed to examine the impact of a rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) intervention on the stress levels and irrational beliefs among special education teachers in elementary schools in Nigeria.Methods:We employed a group randomized controlled trial design for this study. Eighty six participants recruited from elementary schools in the South-eastern part of the country were randomly assigned to either a treatment group (n = 43) or no-intervention control group (n = 43). We used the REBT Stress Management Manual to conduct the intervention. Stress levels and irrational beliefs were assessed using self-report questionnaires. Participants in the treatment group took part in the REBT program for 12 weeks and a follow-up program for 2 weeks. Analysis of the data was completed through a 2 × 3 within × between-subjects repeated measures analysis of variance, and independent samples t test.Results:Results showed that the REBT group experienced a significant mean decline in stress levels and their beliefs shifted to rational ones both at post-treatment and follow-up. In contrast, the participants in the no-intervention control group showed no improvements at either posttreatment or follow-up sessions.Conclusion:Rational-emotive behavior therapy is an effective therapeutic modality that can be applied by REBT clinicians for the management of stress. Additional clinical assessments will be necessary to further confirm the impact of an REBT intervention on teachers’ stress management and irrational beliefs in Nigerian elementary school setting.

Background:Stress is the product of how an individual reacts and adapts to the specific demands and threats they encounter while carrying out given tasks. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a rational-emotive health education intervention (REHEI) on stress management, and irrational beliefs in a sample of technical college teachers in Southeast Nigeria.Method:The study design was a pretest–posttest control group. Repeated measures analysis of variance, paired t test and Mann–Whitney U tests were used to analyze the data collected.Results:The REHEI significantly reduced teacher stress in those teaching staff exposed to the treatment intervention, relative to a waitlist control group. Furthermore, the REHEI program significantly decreased irrational beliefs about teaching in those teaching staff exposed to the treatment intervention compared to a waitlist control group.Conclusion:The REHEI program can be used to coach teachers on how to manage and cope with stress and overcome irrational beliefs in teaching.

Background:Job-related burnout and distress are adverse stress responses which affect individuals in their occupational environment. This study aimed at investigating the effect of a rational-emotive stress management program on job burnout and dysfunctional distress among special education teachers in Nigeria.Methods:A pretest–posttest randomized control group design was used. The participants in the study were 54 special education teachers. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires. Participants were allocated to either the treatment group (n = 28 [59.1%]) or the waitlist control group (n = 26 [48.1%]), respectively. A rational-emotive stress management manual was used to deliver the intervention. We statistically analyzed the data collected at three-time points with repeated-measures analysis of variance.Results:At baseline, the job-related burnout symptoms and distress scores of participants were high. However, an intention-to-treat analysis showed that the rational-emotive stress management intervention program was efficacious in reducing the levels of job-related burnout symptoms and dysfunctional distress among participants assigned to the treatment group, compared to a waitlisted group at post-treatment and follow-up meetings.Conclusion:Our study demonstrates the effectiveness of a rational-emotive stress management intervention in reducing the level of job-related burnout and distress in a sample of special education teachers in Nigeria. Occupational health counsellors and other clinicians with sufficient knowledge of rational-emotive behavior therapy framework are urged to employ this approach in assisting other employees in managing job burnout symptoms, and distress.

Background: High-stress level affects students’ health and many of them experiencing high levels of stress are at risk of burnout. School administrators are often concerned about the experiences and negative effects of burnout among students and staff. Burnout is described as a psychological reaction to chronic stress. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of a group-focused intervention (rational emotive behavior coaching, REBC) on academic burnout among undergraduate students attending public universities in Southeast Nigeria. Methods: A group randomized controlled trial design was adopted for this study. A total of 52 convenient samples of undergraduate students (with a high degree of burnout symptoms) took part in the research. We used a group REBT program manual for the management of burnout which was complemented with REBC techniques. Data were gathered with the aid of the perceived stress scale (PSS-10) and Oldenburg Burnout inventory-student (OLBI-S). Data were analyzed using ANOVA and paired t test at .05 probability level. Results: Results showed that the group-focused REBC program significantly alleviated burnout symptoms among students in the treatment group compared to students in the control group as measured by OLBI-S subscales: exhaustion ( F (1,51) = 41.789, P = .000, , Δ R 2 = 0.634, SE = 1.00), and disengagement ( F (1,51) = 196.036, P = .000, , Δ R 2 = 0.869, SE = 0.69). The students who benefitted from the group-focused REBC program maintained reduced symptoms of burnout after three months when the researchers conducted a follow-up as measured by OLBI-S subscales: exhaustion ( F (1,51) = 34.012, P = .000, , Δ R 2 = 0.467, SE = 1.21), and disengagement ( F (1,51) = 108.941, P = .000, , Δ R 2 = 0.765, SE = 0.85). Conclusion: This research indicates that group-focused REBC can be applied to reduce burnout symptoms among undergraduate students. The group-focused REBC intervention may be adapted to overcome employee burnout and school administrators’ burnout. Researchers may need to investigate the possibility of storing and harnessing data from studies on REBC and burnout and delivering computer-based/internet REBC program following evidence-based computing strategies and principles.

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