Effect of Solution-Focused Brief Technique on Test Anxiety among Secondary School Students in Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of Solution-Focused Brief Technique (SFBT) on test anxiety among secondary school students in Edo State, Nigeria. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a non-randomized pre-test, post-test control group quasi-experimental research design. The population comprised 1,860 Senior Secondary School Two (SS2) students identified with significant test anxiety in public secondary schools in Edo State. A purposive sample of 112 students drawn from three public secondary schools with a high prevalence of test anxiety participated in the study. The instrument used for data collection was the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) developed by Spielberger (1980). The instrument possesses satisfactory psychometric properties and has been validated for use among Nigerian students. Participants in the experimental group received Solution-Focused Brief Technique, while those in the control group received conventional school counselling. The intervention lasted for eight weeks, with two one-hour sessions per week. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that Solution-Focused Brief Technique significantly reduced test anxiety among secondary school students compared with conventional counselling. The study concluded that Solution-Focused Brief Technique is an effective, strengths-based, and school-friendly counselling intervention for reducing test anxiety among secondary school students. It was therefore recommended, among others, that school counsellors should adopt Solution-Focused Brief Technique as a regular intervention for managing test anxiety.