EMOTIONAL HEALTH PROBLEMS AND COPING STRATEGIES OF ACADEMIC STAFF IN UNIVERSITIES IN ENUGU STATE

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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       

  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                                                                                                                   

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.

EMOTIONAL HEALTH PROBLEMS AND COPING STRATEGIES OF ACADEMIC STAFF IN UNIVERSITIES IN ENUGU STATE