STRESS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND SOURCES AMONG ACADEMIC STAFF OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN ADAMAWA STATE
ABSTRACT
The study was aimed at investigating the stress management practices among academic staff of Tertiary Institutions in Adamawa State. Documented evidence on stress management practices among academic staff of higher institutions in Adamawa State is scarce. Five research questions were asked and three hypotheses formulated to guide the study. A population of 3470 academic staff from the eleven tertiary institutions in Adamawa State was used. A researcher – designed questionnaire (validated by five experts) was the instrument used for data collection. The instrument was subjected to reliability test using split half method. Data collected were analyzed using frequency percentages, and chi-square (ᵪ2) statistics. The result revealed that majority of the items were on stress management practices except going to night clubs or Concert (26.5%) and isolating oneself from others (31.1%), Majority of the items were stress management practices according to male and female academic staff except going to night clubs or Concert (Male = 28.5%, Female = 20.9%) and isolating oneself from others (Male = 31.3%, Female = 30.8%). The major stress management practices among academic staff of tertiary institutions in Adamawa state based on marital status were, eating of adequate and proper nutrition (Single = 80.5%, Married = 79.0%, Widowed = 96.3% and Divorced = 80.0%); Engagement in positive and realistic self-talk e.g. word of encouragement (Single = 68.3%, Married = 75.5%, Widowed = 88.9%, and Divorced = 80.0%). Majority of the items based on religious affiliation were stress management practices except going to night clubs or Concert (Islam = 28.4%, Christian = 23.2%) and isolating oneself from others (Islam = 27.0%, Christian = 38.4%). There was no significant difference in the stress management practices based on gender, marital status and religious affiliation. Following from these findings, it was recommended among others that Stress management programme with ermphasis on stress prevention should be organised on a regular basis for academic staff. It was also recommended that tertiary institution authority should establish an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to provide professional services and assistance to academic staff suffering stress-related problems.