Dr Grace Onyowo Ugboha & Dr Mary Ocheenia Anyebe
Abstract
The study investigated the effects of cognitive restructuring technique on emotional adjustment of selected single mothers in Jos metropolis. The study adopted pretest-posttest, control group experimental design. One research question and one hypothesis guided the study. The population of this study comprises all single mothers in Jos Metropolis. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 40 single mothers in Jos Metropolis with low emotional adjustment as indicated by their scores from the instrument tagged “Single Mothers’ Emotional Adjustment Inventory” (SMEAI). The instrument was validated by experts from Research, Measurement and Evaluation, and Guidance and Counselling Units, University of Jos for content validity. The instrument yielded a reliability index of 0.72. The participants were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Participants in the treatment group were exposed to twelve weeks of cognitive restructuring technique. The collected data were then analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. The findings revealed that cognitive restructuring technique is effective in increasing single mothers’ emotional adjustment. It was recommended, among others, that cognitive restructuring technique should be used when an individual experiences a negative mood, or when one feels fear, apprehension, or anxiety about a person or event.