چکیده (انگلیسی):

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) on reducing bullying behaviour among secondary school students in Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State. The population of the study consisted of 2,368 senior secondary 2 (SS2) students. A sample size of ninety (90) students identified as bullies using Olweus Bullying Questionnaire (OBQ) was used in the study. They were randomized into two equal groups for experimental and control groups. The experimental group was treated with cognitive behaviour therapy for six (6) weeks while the control group received no treatment. It was a quasi-experimental design. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. OBQ had its content validity estimated by the total item cumulative variance of 75.25% while its construct validity estimated by factor loading matrixes ranged between 0.45 and 0.88. The reliability was established using cronbach alpha at r=0.80, p<0.05 level of significance. Data collected were analyzed with mean, standard deviation, paired t-test and independent t-test. Results revealed that cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) had significant efficacy on reducing bullying among secondary school students as determined by their pretest and posttest mean scores. Cognitive behaviour therapy had significant efficacy of reducing bullying on the experimental group. Based on the findings, recommendations were made including that students with bullying behaviour should be encouraged to receive psychotherapeutic training such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and that the government and counseling Association of Nigeria (CASSON) should organize workshops and seminars to sensitize and train counselors on how to use Cognitive Behaviour Therapy to help students overcome their bullying behaviours.