Background: Lecturers have a multitude of responsibilities to fulfill, and how they perceive their workload can greatly impact their performance and well-being. One factor that can influence teaching quality and overall satisfaction is the perception of excessive workload. Keeping this in mind, this study aimed to explore the impact of rational emotive behavior therapy on work stress and perceptions among Lecturers. Methods: The study was conducted in public universities in Southeast Nigeria using an experimental design with a randomized trial control approach. A total of 46 lecturers in agricultural education at public institutions. The primary measure used was a stress scale. Participants underwent a 16-session therapy program over a period of 2 months, introducing them to rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) through an intervention manual. Data collected during the pretest and posttest phases were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance and descriptive statistics (mean, chi-square, and percentage). Results: The results indicated that lecturers in the REBT group experienced a significant decrease in occupational stress compared to the control group both during and after treatment. This suggests that REBT was more effective in reducing work stress among agriculture education lecturers than the control group. Additionally, male lecturers showed a greater reduction in stress levels during treatment than their female counterparts. Age was not found to have a significant impact on stress levels among agriculture education professors. Conclusion: The study suggests that REBT is an effective therapeutic approach for managing work-related stress among instructors in agricultural education at universities in Southeast Nigeria. Based on these findings, the study recommends that REBT practitioners consider using this modality to assist college and university teaching staff in stress management.
Omeje et al. (Fri,) studied this question.