Comparative effectiveness of reality therapy and self-efficacy techniques in reducing violent behaviour traits among secondary school students in Osun State, Nigeria

As in most other parts of the world, violent behaviour is common and is a wide spread feature among youths in Nigeria; especially in the recent times. The study investigated the comparative effectiveness of Reality Therapy and self- efficacy techniques in reducing violent behaviour among Secondary School students in Osun State, Nigeria. Using a multi-stage approach, a total of one hundred and twenty (120) senior secondary school students (60 male and 60 female) identified to exhibit violent behaviour traits were randomly drawn from three public coeducational schools from three local government areas of Osun State, Nigeria. A 3x2 pretext post-test control group design was adopted for the study. Questionnaire titled: “Violent Behaviour Acts Scale (VBAS) was administered on the respondents in order to collect relevant data. The psychometric properties of the instrument were established using content validity and test re-test methods. Group one was exposed to Reality Therapy; group two to self-efficacy techniques while the third group received “Placebo”. Three research hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 alpha level. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the collected data, using percentages, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) Results showed significant differences between the students who were exposed to treatment conditions and those in the control group- (=5.27, df 2/117; p<0.05). Gender has no influence on the effectiveness of self-efficacy techniques on reduction of violent behavioural traits (F=2.01, df’ 2/38 p<0.05). Gender has influence on the effectiveness of Reality Therapy in reduction of violent behaviour. (F=5.82, df2/38; p<0.05) Based on the findings of this study, conclusion were drawn that self-efficacy technique was effective on reduction of violent behaviour among students. Based on the findings, it was recommended that there is a need to expose counsellors’ in training to intensive use of self-efficacy techniques as preventive measure for the reduction of violent behaviour traits among students, counsellors’ in training should be exposed to practicum that would help them to handle violent behaviours among students. Based on the efficacy of the self-efficacy techniques, it was further recommended that counsellors should equip themselves with the self-efficacy techniques; and teach students on how to apply it at all times to reduce violent behaviour in and outside the school Counselling centres should be established by the school administrators to allow counsellors to help students in developing acceptable behaviour; school counsellors should be organising training for students on self-efficacy skills to prevent violent behaviours.Keywords: Comparative Effectiveness; Reality Therapy; Self-Efficacy Techniques; Violent Behaviours Traits, Student