EFFECTIVENESS OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY IN MITIGATING PRE-RETIREMENT ANXIETY AMONG SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS IN UPPER EAST REGION
Abstract
Background: Despite retirement being an important life transition, the psychological readiness of teachers is often undermined in favor of financial planning, creating a practical and empirical gap in retirement support systems.
Objective: This study investigated the effectiveness of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy as an intervention for mitigating pre retirement anxiety among senior high school teachers in the Upper East Region of Ghana.
Methodology: A quasi experimental pretest posttest control group design was employed with a sample of 30 teachers within ten years of retirement. The study involved an experimental group (n=15) that received an eight week CBT intervention and a control group (n=15) that received no intervention. The Retirement Anxiety Scale was used to measure pre and post intervention anxiety levels.
Results and Findings: Results indicated that pre retirement anxiety was very high among participants before the intervention, with 58.47 percent reporting high anxiety levels. No statistically significant differences in anxiety levels were found based on gender (p = .774) or years of teaching experience (p = .106). The main finding was that CBT intervention was highly effective in decreasing pre retirement anxiety. The ANCOVA analysis indicated that the means between the experimental and control groups were statistically different based on post test scores (p = .001), with the intervention explaining 92.1 percent of the variance (partial η² = .921).
Conclusions and Recommendations: The study concludes that pre retirement anxiety is a serious concern among teachers in the Upper East Region. The study established that CBT is an effective intervention in significantly reducing anxiety levels. It is recommended that educational stakeholders integrate evidence based psychological programs like CBT into pre retirement planning to facilitate the holistic wellbeing of retiring teachers.
Keywords: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Pre retirement anxiety, Senior high school teachers, Retirement preparation, Psychological intervention, Upper East Region Ghana
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