Stress and frustration tolerance on officiating performance among elite football referees in Nigeria

Introduction: Football referees play an essential yet demanding role in officiating and enforcing the laws of the game (soccer). Despite this role, referees are often faced with challenging situations that tend to interfere with their officiating performance. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess the effect of stress and frustration tolerance on the performance of elite football referees in Nigeria. Methodology: Three null hypotheses guided the study. A survey research design was adopted for the study. A total of 123 elite football referees participated in the study. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Frustration Discomfort Scale (FDS) and Referee Performance Questionnaire (RPQ) served as the data collection tools. The first two instruments were adopted, and their validity and reliability have since been established. The RPQ was validated using experts’ opinions and subjected to a reliability test of internal consistency. The coefficient obtained was 0.711, which showed high reliability of the research instrument.  Data were collected by physically administering copies of the instruments to the elite football referees. Simple and multiple regression analysis was applied to quantify the predictive relationships between perceived stress and frustration tolerance with self-perceived performance. Results: Findings revealed a negative relationship between perceived stress and referee performance. However, a significant positive relationship was found between frustration tolerance and referee performance. Recommendation: Based on the results, it was recommended among others that, football organizations should integrate stress management training into referee development programmes

Interactive analysis of demographic variables and occupational stress on university lecturers’ job performance

This research studied the interaction influence of demographic characteristics (marital status, job rank, gender and age) and occupational stress level, on the work performance of faculty members in Calabar Metropolis. The descriptive survey design was utilized for this investigation. A sample of 150 respondents was identified using the systematic random sampling procedure from a population of 400 Faculty of Education lecturers from two public universities in Calabar Metropolis. A four-point scale validity and reliability certified questionnaire was used for data collection. Data generated was analyzed using the two-way analysis of variance. Hypotheses were all tested at the 0.05 alpha level. Findings revealed a significant interactive effect of demographic variables (age, gender, job rank and marital status) and stress levels on lecturers' jobs. Results also indicated that the stress level of lecturers affects the degree or quality of job performance, with those having average stress levels reporting better job performance in the universities studied. Recommendations were made that all lecturers, irrespective of age, gender, marital status or rank, should develop or adopt good stress management skills and disengage/reduce extra jobs and other unnecessary stress-inducing activities.

Music Therapy in Enhancing Learning Attention of Children with Intellectual Disability

Inattention is one of the significant problems that inhibit learning among children with intellectual disabilities. However, several strategies and therapies have been developed to solve the problem. This study, therefore, investigates the effectiveness of music therapy in enhancing attention among children with intellectual disability. A pretest-posttest control experimental research design was adopted. The experiment was carried out for six weeks using Music Therapy Treatment Package on 24 children with intellectual disability that were randomly selected Modupe Cole Momerial Childcare and Treatment Home/School, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos. A validated Attention Observation Rating Scale (AORS) with a reliability coefficient of 0.88 was used for this study. Three hypotheses were tested in the study, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used for data analysis. This study revealed that music therapy is effective in enhancing attention among children with intellectual disabilities. Sex and level of severity of the disability were also tested as moderator variables, but they have no significant main or interaction effect with music therapy in enhancing attention for children with intellectual disability. The finding is that music therapy is significantly effective in enhancing attention for children with intellectual disability regardless of their sex or level of severity. It was concluded that attention deficit could be improved for children with intellectual disability. Therefore, Music therapy was recommended for use in the school with adequate teacher training