Table of Contents
Contents Page
Title Page i
Approval Page ii
Certification Page iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgements v
List of Tables vii
Abstract x
Table of Contents ix
CHAPTER ONE:                Introduction                                                 1          Background to the Study                                                          1      Â
 Statement of the Problem                                                                            10
Purpose of the Study 11
Research Questions 11
Hypotheses 13
Significance of the Study 13
Scope of the Study 14
CHAPTER TWO: Review of Related Literature 16
Conceptual Framework 16
- Emotional health problems
- Varieties of emotional health problems
- Sources of emotional health problems
- Predisposing factors to emotional health problems
- Coping strategies for emotional health problems
Theoretical Framework 58
- James-Lange theory of emotion
- Job demand resource model
Related Studies on Emotional Health Problems                             62                                                                                                                Â
CHAPTER THREE: Methods
Research Design 70
Area of the Study 70
Population for the Study 71
Sample and Sampling Technique 72
Instrument for Data Collection 73
Validity of the instrument 73
Reliability of the instrument 74
Method of Data Collection 74
Method of Data Analysis 75
CHAPTER FOUR: Results and Discussion                                                76
Results 76
Summary of Major Findings 104
Discussion 106
CHAPTER FIVE: Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations 114
Summary 114
Conclusions 117
Implication of the Study 120
Recommendations 121
Limitation of the Study 122
Suggestion for further Studies 122
            References                                                                                       123
           Appendices                                                                                     150
           Appendix A                                                                                  150
           Appendix B                                                                                        161
           Appendix C                                                                                                  162
          Appendix D                                                                                          170
          Appendix E                                                                                     171
          Appendix F                                                                                           176
          Appendix G.                                                                                         177
List of Tables
Table | Page | |
Table 1 | Summary of Percentages of Academic Staff’s Responses on Level of EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities in Enugu State. | 150 |
Table 2 | Differences in the Mean Totals of Academic Staff’s Responses on Levels of EHPs Among Academic Staff in University According to Gender, Marital Status, Type of University, Age and Job Status | 185 |
Table 3 | Mean Ratings of Academic Staff’s Responses on Extent to which Sources of EHPs Apply to Academic Staff in Universities | 192 |
Table 4 | Differences in the Mean Totals of Academic Staff’s Responses on Extent to which Sources of EHPs apply to Academic Staff in University According to Gender, Marital Status, Type of University, Age and Job Status | 196 |
Table 5 | Mean Ratings of Academic Staff’s Responses on Extent of Use of Coping Strategies for EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities | 199 |
Table 6 | Differences in the Mean Totals of Academic Staff’s Responses on Extent of Use of Coping Strategies Among Academic Staff in University According to Gender, Marital Status, Type of University, Age and Job Status | 205 |
Tabl 7 | Summary of ANOVA for Level of EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities by Gender | 210 |
Table 8 | Summary of ANOVA for Extent of Use of Coping Strategies for EHPs Among academic Staff in Universities by Gender | 213 |
Table 9 | Summary of ANOVA for Level of EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities by Job Status | 217 |
Table 10 | Summary of Post Hoc Tests for Multiple Comparisons (Dunnett) for Significant Mean Differences on the Level of EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities by Job Status | 217 |
Table 11 | Summary of ANOVA for Extent of Use of Coping Strategies for EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities by Job Status | 219 |
Table 12 | Summary of ANOVA for Level of EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities by Marital Status | 222 |
Tabel 13 | Summary of Post Hoc Tests for Multiple Comparisons (Dunnett) for Significant Mean Differences on Levels of EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities by Job Status | 224 |
Table 14 | Summary of ANOVA for Extent of Use of Coping Strategies for EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities by Marital Status | 225 |
Table 15 | Summary of ANOVA for Level of EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities by Age | 228 |
Table 16 | Summary of Post Hoc Tests for Multiple Comparisons (Dunnett) for Significant Mean Differences on Level of EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities by Age | 231 |
Table 17 | Summary of ANOVA for Extent of Use of Coping Strategies for EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities by Age | 235 |
Table 18 | Summary of ANOVA for Levels of EHPs of Academic Staff by Type of University | 239 |
Table 19 | Summary of Post Hoc Tests for Multiple Comparisons (Dunnett) for Significant Mean Differences on Levels of EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities by University Type | 240 |
Table 20 | Summary of ANOVA for Extent of Use of Coping for Strategies EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities by University Type | 251 |
Table 21 | Summary of Post Hoc Tests for Multiple Comparisons (Dunnett) for Significant mean Differences on Extent of Use of Coping Strategies for EHPs Among Academic Staff in Universities by University Type | 263 |
Abstract
Determining
the level of emotional health problems and extent of use of coping strategies
among academic staff in universities in Enugu State was the purpose of this
study. To achieve this purpose, the descriptive research designwas adopted. The
population for the study consisted of 2256 full-time academic staff from five
universities (one federal, one state and three private universities) in Enugu
State. A sample of 669 academic staff participated in the study, and was
selected by proportionate stratified random sampling and simple random sampling
techniques. The instrument used for data collection was the emotional health
problems and coping strategies (EMHEPACOS) questionnaire. It has four sections.
Section A elicited information on personal data of the subjects, while section
B consisted of five self tests adapted from literature that elicited
information on levels of five specific dimensions of EHPs. To establish levels
of EHPs, results of the tests were used and interpreted using four scales of
No/Minimal, Low, Moderate and Severe. Section C sought information on extent of
prevalence of sources of EHPs, whereas Section D dwelt on extent of use of coping
strategies for EHPs. A fivepoint scale response options of Very Low, Low, Moderate,
High and Very High extent were used to weight the respondents’ responses in
sections C and D and also to interpret the results. The face validation of the
instrument was established through the judgment of five experts drawn from
various departments of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The Spearman Brown
Rank Order was used to establish dichotomously scored items of the instrument,
while internal consistency of the polychotomously scored items was computed
using Cronbatch Alpha technique. Both methods yielded reliability co-efficient
values of .87 and .89. Data collected were analyzed using the SPSS version 17
for MS WINDOWS. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages,
mean, standard deviations and mean totals were used for analysis of descriptive
data, while One-way analysis of variance and Dunnett’s post hoc tests were used
to test the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The findings of the study
showed that there were moderate levels of four out of five dimensions of the
emotional health problems studied among majority of the academic staff. The
findings also indicated that specifically majority of the items on sources and
coping strategies for emotional health problems occurred to high or moderate
extent respectively among academic staff, albeit, very few occur to low or very
low extent. The findings among other things equally revealed that while level
of emotional health problems among academic staff was influenced by gender;
extent of use of coping strategies is independent of the academic staff gender.
Finally, based on the above findings this study recommended among other things
that in view of the fact that health education is the mother discipline of
public health education and a panacea to emotional health problem at least a recommended
regular health education on emotional health sustainability should be made
compulsory for every academic staff in Nigeria.
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
Background to the Study
Emotional Health Problems appear to be on the increase world wide
accounting for an estimated 37% of all lives lost annually. Emotional health
problems ranges from common, mild, temporary depression, anger, jealousy,
envy, stress, anxiety, shyness, shame, fear to guilt among others.
Interestingly, people can overcome emotional
health problems or
learn how to deal with them when they occur. Emotional health problems
can affect one or more of three important areas namely: social or family
relations; Leisure time activities; work or occupational activities such as
academic work (The World Health Organization- WHO, 2001).
Work, that is, occupation including academic work can contribute to
satisfaction or fulfillment of an individual’s aspirations in life. According to
Teasdale (2006) work might serve as a means of survival, personal identity,
self-actualization and most importantly a means of keeping both the body
and the mind together to an individual. The United States Department of
Labour (2007) also noted that when the optimal health requirements
(namely: physical, mental, social, economic, and emotional requirements) of workers particularly academics are met they give out their best and
productivity is enhanced.
Regrettably, Colligan, (2006) observed that there may be workplace phenomena that may act against these workers. In Nigeria particularly, there is an increased demand on academics owing to quest for mass literacy, professional growth, and job efficiency amidst labour crises and poor welfare packages for workers especially the university academic staff.(Ayodele, 2010). Furthermore, according to Jacobs and Gerson (2004), there may also be other life challenges outside the workplace such as, adverse home environment, losses, hardships, and disappointments, among others that act against people including academic workers. These demands and work related experiences as well as other life challenges may engender emotions that may negatively affect workers particularly the academics in universities under study.
Everyone experiences emotions from various aspects of life
including work. These emotions may be positive or negative. They may also
be mild or severe, short or long term, temporary or permanent depending on the individual experiencing it, the arousal, and the way the person deals with it (Geher, 2004). Mills (1995) posited that when there is consistent
experience or build up emotions especially negative emotions, they make it
difficult for a person to function; impair wellbeing; and precipitate
emotional health problem (EHP). Emotional health problems (EHPs) have been defined from different perspectives. Perhaps, this was the view of Maslach (1993) when he argued that there was no one official definition of EHP. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories affect how EHP is defined. For instance, from the perspectives of the discipline of negative or abnormal psychology, Sedgeman (2005) defined EHP as individuals’ inability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psycho-emotional resilience. According to Thompson (1990), EHP is a persistent negative mood state that leads to emotional exhaustion, demoralization and de-motivation. Maslach (1993) explained that EHP involves emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and a sense of reduced personal accomplishment accompanied by a decrease in motivation, and an increase of dysfunctional attitudes and behaviours. Goleman (1995)
viewed EHP as cumulative negative emotional experiences that result to
cognitive, physiological, behavourial and mood dysfunction in individuals
including academics. According to Freedman (2003) EHP is a consistent
expression of negative emotions that signifies an unsuccessful adaptation to a range of demands. In his opinion EHP can occur when there is a
discrepancy between the demands of the environment and an individual’s
ability to carry out and complete these demands. The WHO (2001) affirmed
that EHP is a state of imbalance in which an academic staff fail to
realize his/her abilities, cannot cope with the normal stresses of life, cannot
work productively and fruitfully, and is unable to make a contribution(s) in
his/her community. However, Sizer-webb, Whitney and DeBruyne (1999)
defined EHP as patterns of thinking or behaviour that causes a person
significant emotional pains or prevent normal functioning in anyone or more of four important areas namely: physical or physiological dimensions, social or family relations, occupation, and leisure activities. The concept of EHP in the context of this study is in line with Sizer-webb, et al. (1999) definition of EHP. Therefore, EHP is a pattern of thinking or behaviour that causes academic staff of universities significant emotional pains that prevent normal functioning in one or more of four important areas namely: physical or physiological dimensions, social or family relations, occupation, and leisure activities.