ABSTRACT
This study investigated the effect of rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) on the psychological trauma of persons with terminated spousal relationship in Anambra State. Quasi-experimental pretest, posttest, control group design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 1755 persons with terminated spousal relationship in Anambra State (widows: 640, widowers: 1067, divorcees: 24 divorces: 24). A total number of 96 widowed and divorced persons were used for the study. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the sample for the study. Nine research questions and six null hypotheses guided the study. The instrument for data collection was a 56 item questionnaire titled “Psychological Trauma Questionnaire for Widowed and Divorced (PTQWD)”. The instrument was validated by three experts all from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Two experts were from guidance and counselling and one from measurement and evaluation. The instrument was subjected to face and construct validities. The reliability of the instrument was determined using cronbach alpha method and the reliability for each sessions are; are; 0.84, 0.88, 0.76, 0.78, 0.84, 0.79, 0.73, 0.69, 0.71, 0.79. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the six null hypotheses. The findings revealed that there was no significant difference in the mean psychological trauma of persons with terminated spousal relationship due to divorce and death. The findings revealed that there existed a significant difference in the mean psychological trauma of persons with terminated spousal relationship when exposed to REBT and those not so exposed. There was more reduction in the mean psychological trauma scores of persons with terminated spousal relationship exposed to REBT (2.41) than those not so exposed (2.55). Significant difference exists in the mean psychological trauma of widows/widowers and divorcees/divorces. There was more reduction in the mean psychological trauma scores of widowers exposed the REBT (2.30) than widows exposed to the same REBT (2.49). There was more reduction in the mean psychological logical trauma scores of divorces exposed REBT (2.39) than divorcees exposed to the same REBT (2.46). Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that educational guidance counselors should plan a programnme of intervention based on REBT, and federal and State Ministries of Education should organize and sponsor workshops and seminars for educational guidance counselors on how to implement REBT techniques.
