Cognitive behavioral therapy for challenges to quitting tobacco smoking among social science and religion students.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking is a public health issue. The aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on the disputation of challenges to quitting tobacco smoking among students enrolled in the Social Science and religious Education programmes. METHODS: The study adopted a pretest-posttest randomized controlled group design with follow-up. The population comprised of 76 tobacco smokers (randomized into 1 of 2 groups: n = 38 for the treatment group, n = 38 for the waitlist control group) completed the study. A self-report scale measuring dependence on cigarettes was used as the outcome measure. The treatment group was exposed to a 12-weeks CBT intervention. The treatment and waitlisted groups were evaluated at 3 time points: pretest, post-test, and follow-up. Statistical analyses were achieved using ANOVA. RESULTS: The result showed that CBT had a significant effect in reducing the challenges to quitting tobacco smoking among the student smokers in the treatment group in comparison with the waitlist control group. The positive behavioral gains after the CBT program also persisted at follow-up in the treatment group compared with the waitlist control group. CONCLUSION: Therefore, this study suggests that CBT intervention is a time-effective treatment method for disputation of challenges to quitting tobacco smoking among students enrolled in the Social Science and Religious Education Programmes.

Gender effect on eating habits of Nigerian school children.

ABSTRACT: It is important to investigate children's eating habits based on different eating behaviors such as satiety responsiveness (SR), slowness in eating (SE), food fussiness (FF), food responsiveness (FR), enjoyment of food (EF), desire to drink (DD), emotional under-eating (EUE), and emotional over-eating (EOE). The main objective of this research was to investigate whether gender affects the eating habits of Nigerian school children.A cross-sectional survey was conducted between March and June 2019. A total of 120 parents of school children participated in the study. The Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) was used to collect data. The CEBQ is composed of 35 items and eight subscales.Based on the analysis of parents' reports, DD was higher in boys than girls, t (118) = 7.086, P < .001; EOE was higher in boys than girls, t (118) = 5.184, P < .001; EF was higher in boys than girls, t (118) = 2.183, P < .001; FF was higher in boys than girls, t (118) = 9.441, P < .001; and SR was higher in boys than girls, t (118) = 7.323, P < .001. However, EUE was lower in boys than girls, t (118) = -4.339, P < .001; FR was lower in boys than girls, t(118) = -3.112, P < .001; SE was lower in boys than girls, t(118) = -3.832, P < .001; thus, gender had a significant influence on eating habits of the school children.Gender significantly affects the eating habits of Nigerian school children. Thus, gender is an important factor to be considered when aiming to improve the eating habits of Nigerian school children.

Efficacy of prison-based cognitive behavioral rehabilitation intervention on violent sexual behaviors among sex offenders in Nigerian prisons.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Evidence showed that reoffending habits are increasing among offenders with violent sexual behaviors. Given the recidivism rates, a psychotherapeutic intervention becomes imperative. This study examined the efficacy of prison-based cognitive behavioral rehabilitation intervention (PCBRI) on violent sexual behaviors among sex offenders in Nigerian prisons. METHOD: A total of45 participants were the sample size. Compulsive Sexual Behavior Inventory and Hypersexual Behavior Inventory were employed in assessing the participants at 3 points. Using a simple random allocation sequence, 23 participants were exposed to PCBRI programme and 22 participants allocated to control condition. The data obtained were analyzed using repeated measures 2-way analysis of variance. RESULTS: Results indicated a significant effect of the treatment on violent sexual behaviors among sex offenders in Nigerian prisons exposed to the PCBRI programme when compared to the no-intervention group. Result also showed a significant interaction effect of time and group on sex offenders with violent sexual behaviors. Follow-up tests showed significant decrease in violent sexual behaviors after 6 months for the PCBRI group in comparison to the control group. CONCLUSION: This study concluded that PCBRI approach is a type of psychotherapy that reduces violent sexual behaviors among sex offenders in Southeast Nigeria.