ENHANCING STRESS MANAGEMENT AMONG SPOUSES IN KATSINA STATE, NIGERIA

The major purpose of the study was to identify strategies for enhancing stress management among spouses in Katsina State, Nigeria. Eight research questions and eight null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design and was carried out in Katsina State, Nigeria. The population of this study was made up of the entire 986,453 spouses in Katsina State. Purposive and multistage sampling techniques were used to select a sample of 900 respondents made up of 450 husbands and 450 wives. Two sets of instruments were used for data collection for the study. These include the Focus Group Discussion Guide (FGD) and structured questionnaire titled: “Spousal Stress Management Strategies Questionnaire (SSMSQ). The questionnaire was face-validated by five experts. Internal consistency of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha reliability method and reliability coefficient of 0.78 was obtained. Six trained research assistants were involved in data collection. Out of the 900 copies of questionnaire administered, 846 copies were properly completed and returned representing 94% return rate. Mean was used for answering the research questions while t-test statistics was used in testing the eight null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The focus group discussion was summarized and organized based on the purposes of the study. The major findings of the study include: causes of stress among spouses in Katsina State with major causes as spouses related intimacy, children; economic/finance related causes among others, appropriate physical stress management strategies include: regular body exercises with spouse, control body weight and relaxation techniques among others psychological stress management strategies include: building faith in God, listening to music and being optimistic among others, social supports stress management strategies include: owning a pet, counseling by social workers and prayers among others; environment related stress management strategies include: avoiding noisy environment in both official and residential houses and ensuring clean and safe environment among others; time management strategies for controlling stress include: setting priorities, applying work simplification techniques and planning time use by scheduling among others. Problems that can hinder the adoption of stress management strategies by spouses include: wide age differences, uncompromising attitudes of spouses and large family size among others and the ways through which spouses could be helped to adopt stress management strategies include: developing and using good listening skills, showing appreciation to each other and adopting positive attitude towards stressful events among others. On the hypotheses tested, the study found out that there are no significant differences in the mean ratings of the responses of husbands and wives on 171 out of the 217 items in the study while on the remaining 46 items, there are significant differences. Based on these findings, the study recommended among others, regular awareness campaign about causes of stress among spouses in the State; there should be government and NGOs organized sponsored drama to enlighten spouses on the dangers of unhealthy stress management adopted by spouses and their negative consequences on the individual, family and society in general.