Managing social anxiety among undergraduate adult education and extra-mural studies students: An intervention study.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Anxiety is a significant problem affecting University students including undergraduate adult education and extra-mural studies students. This research evaluated the impact of a group rational-emotive behavioral education intervention (group rational-emotive behavioral education intervention [REBEI]) on social anxiety symptoms among undergraduate adult education and extra-mural studies students. METHOD: Eighty six students participated in the study by belonging to either treatment group (n = 43) or control group (n = 43). A REBEI treatment program was developed by the researchers was used to implement the experiment and data was collected using a 22-item questionnaire on social anxiety. Analyzes of data were done using repeated measures ANOVA and paired t-test. RESULTS: Results showed that despite the social anxiety experienced before exposure to the intervention, the social anxiety symptoms of the undergraduate adult education and extra-mural studies students in the treatment group reduced significantly at post-treatment and follow-up compared to students in the control group. CONCLUSION: REBEI demonstrated its clinical usefulness in treating undergraduate adult education and extra-mural studies students with social anxiety problem.

Effect of a critical thinking intervention on stress management among undergraduates of adult education and extramural studies programs.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the effect of a critical thinking intervention (CTI) on stress management among undergraduates of adult education and extramural studies programs. METHOD: A total of 44 undergraduates were randomly sorted into experimental and waitlist control groups. We used the Perceived Stress Scale for data collection at the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages. We used unpaired t and paired t-tests to analyze the data collected. SPSS version 22.0 was used for the data analyses (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). RESULTS: It was shown that the CTI was effective in reducing the mean stress of the participants compared to the control group both in the post-test (t[42] = -22.453, P < .001) and follow-up periods (t[42] = -34.292, P < .001). There were statistically significant changes in the mean stress of participants in the experimental group from the pre-test to post-test phases (t[23] = 26.30, P = .000, r = .08], and from pre-test to follow-up(t[23] = 37.10, P = .000, r = .30). The mean stress of the participants in the experimental group from post-test to follow-up signified the sustained positive influence of the CTI on the mean stress (t[23] = 2.41, P = .000, r = .46) of the undergraduates. CONCLUSION: This study adds to the literature by showing that a CTI is a valuable strategy for stress reduction in a university environment. Given that the CTI demonstrated the ability to reduce stress among undergraduates enrolled in adult education and extramural studies programs, we hope that similar interventions will be adopted to manage and prevent stress among students in other departments and disciplines.