The Study of the Effects of Cognitive Restructuring Therapy on Cigarette Smoking Behaviour of Undergraduate Students.

Abstract

This paper is an extract from a larger study. The study investigated the relative effectiveness of Cognitive Restructuring (C.R) therapy in the reduction of cigarette smoking behaviour of undergraduate students from South West of Nigeria. The research followed a pre test post test control group design. sixty volunteer undergraduate males and females of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife were the participants in the study. An adapted version of Donald and Judith (1986) and Akinyele (1991) Sources of Satisfaction of Cigarette Smoking Inventory (SSCSI) and self constructed Attitude Towards Cigarette Smoking Inventory (ATCSI) were used to determine their behavior and attitudes toward cigarette smoking. While African based twelve (12) illogical statements were constructed and used as cognitive restructuring therapy in the reduction of cigarette smoking behavior of the participants. The experimental group (30 participants) was exposed to C.R therapy for four weeks of eight group sessions of 45 minutes (using self constructed 10 illogical and logical statements) while no treatment was accorded the control group. The data was subjected to t-test analysis, with hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated that subjects exposed to C.R therapy reduced the frequency of cigarette smoking (pre-test X = 9.27, SD = 2.01, df = 58; post-test X = .167, SD = .379, df =58), with the difference between the mean values being significant (t= 24.5, df = 58, p> 0.05). The results further indicated that C.R was effective in changing the attitude of smokers toward cigarette smoking (t = 4.37; df = 58, p> 0.05). It was therefore concluded that Cognitive Restructuring therapy was effective in the reduction of cigarette smoking of university students.

IFE PsychologIA Vol. 16 (1) 2007: pp. 187-197