Adjustment Strategies of Widows to Widowhood Stress In Rivers State, Nigeria (Published)
This study investigated the various adjustment strategies employed by widows in coping with widowhood stress in Rivers State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the conduct of the study at 0.05 alpha levels. A sample of 370 widows in Rivers State was drawn from the population through proportional stratified random sampling technique. Two instruments namely; Stress Level Scale for Widows (SLSW) and Questionnaire for Widows Adjustment Strategies (QWAS), both developed by the researcher were used for data collection. Data were analysed with mean, standard deviation and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance and the statistical package known as SPSS for widows was employed for the analyses. Results showed that; all the eight adjustment strategies (problem solving, cognitive restructuring, express emotion, social support, problem avoidance, wishful thinking, self-criticism and social withdrawal) are adopted by widows in ameliorating widowhood stress; ethnic group of widows’ influences their adjustment strategies to widowhood stress. Based on the findings of this work, three appropriate recommendations were made.
Keywords: Adjustment, Rivers State, Strategies., Stress, Widowhood
The Effect of Occupational Stress on Job Performance at Aspet A. Company Limited (Published)
This study was conducted to find out the effect of occupational stress on job performance at Aspet A. Company Limited. The study employed descriptive approach. The sample size adopted was one hundred and nine through the help of convenience sampling techniques. Descriptive analysis factors like frequency tables, mean scores and percentages were generated, and their interpretations thoroughly explained and interpreted. Based on the findings of the study, it was clear that there are multiple causes of stress which have physical, emotional and psychological effects on employees at the company. The study revealed that stress relation with workforce marital status, education, and working experience was negative. However, the study found out that stress among employees does enhance their job performance in a positive manner (r = 0.348, sig. value=.000). This gives the indication that as employee stress increases, their job performance also tends to increase and vice versa. This section concludes on the premise that stress to an extent enhances job performance at the company. It was therefore recommended that management of the company must come up with an overall coping strategy policy on stress reduction focusing on employees’ marital status, education and working experience at the workplace. Also, the study recommended that tasks should be assigned taking into much consideration the marital status, education and working experience of employees in order not to overburden them with so much work and negatively affect them. Lastly, the research recommended the need to look at any further study concerning the effect of occupational stress on job performance to either confirm or refute the outcome of this study.
Keywords: Job Performance, Stress, and Stress Management, occupational Stress
Application of Stress, Rhythm and Intonation in the Speech of Erei-English Bilinguals (Published)
The study investigated the handling of the supra-segmental features among Erei speakers of English. A survey questionnaire was administered to 150 respondents in selected secondary schools under study. The subjects were grouped by age into three: 10-12 years, 13-15 years and 16 years and above. Two research questions were formulated to direct the course of the study. Data were analysed in five sections through the application of four gradable items: SA – strongly agree, A – agreed, D – disagreed and SD – strongly disagreed. Findings showed that the prosodic features such as stress, rhythm and intonation are the basis for intelligibility than the individual segments, but the teaching of the features received less attention in the class as well as the teachers in the study did not have a good command of the prosodic features in their spoken English. The provision of well-designed curriculum and syllabus, oral textbooks with targeted supra-segmental features, well-equipped libraries and language laboratories, the introduction of radio and television language programmes and on-the-job training and retraining of teachers in spoken English were suggested to help solve the problem of intelligibility among the Erei people as L2 users of English in Nigeria.
Keywords: Bilinguals, Erei-English, Intelligibility, Rhythm, Speech, Stress, Teaching