THE EFFICACY OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY IN ADDRESSING ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AND REINFORCING ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AMONG STUDENTS IN PUBLIC HIGHER INSTITUTIONS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18623/rvd.v23.5791Palabras clave:
Academic Dishonesty, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Academic Integrity, Higher Education, Behavioural InterventionResumen
This study investigated the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in reducing academic dishonesty among undergraduate students in public higher institutions in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. A quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test measures for experimental and control groups was adopted. A sample of 394 students was purposively selected and evenly assigned to both groups. Data were collected using the Academic Dishonesty Behaviour Questionnaire (ADBQ), which assessed behaviours such as examination malpractice, plagiarism, and falsification of records. Descriptive statistics addressed the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) tested the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that participants initially exhibited moderate to high levels of academic dishonesty. Following a six-week CBT intervention, the experimental group showed a significant reduction in dishonest behaviours, whereas the control group showed minimal change. ANCOVA results indicated a statistically significant difference in post-test scores between the groups (F (1,391) = 102.87, p < 0.05). The study concludes that CBT effectively reduces maladaptive beliefs associated with academic dishonesty and enhances ethical decision-making. It recommends integrating CBT-based programmes into institutional counselling services to promote academic integrity.
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