Abstract:
Sexual decision-making is a major challenge among adolescents globally. Reports have
shown that adolescents in Nigeria, including Bayelsa State, encounter numerous lifethreatening adverse effects due to lack of sexual decision-making which resulted into
unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS. Previous studies
concentrated more on risky behaviours and practices using survey methods than interventions.
This study, therefore, was carried out to investigate the effects of Metacognitive Therapy
(MT) and Negotiation Skills Training (NST) in enhancing sexual decision-making among inschool adolescents in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The moderating effects of HIV risk-perception
and self-esteem were also examined.
The study was anchored to the Theory of Planned Behaviour, while the pretest-posttest
control group quasi-experimental design with a 3x3x3 factorial matrix was adopted. The
multistage sampling procedure was used. Three Local Government Areas (LGAs) (Sagbama,
Southern-Ijaw and Yenagoa) were randomly selected out of the existing eight LGAs in
Bayelsa. Three secondary schools were randomly selected from each of the LGAs. The
students were screened with Carey and Steinberg Sexual Decision-making tool, and those
who scored below 40 participated. The schools were randomly assigned to MT (21), NST (28)
and control (26) groups. Interventions lasted 10 weeks. The instruments used were Sexual
Decision-making (α=0.75), Sexual Risky-Behaviour (α=0.77), Self-esteem (α=0.89) and HIV
Risk-perception (α=0.71) scales. Data were analysed using Analysis of covariance and
Bonferoni Post-hoc test at 0.05 level of significance.
The participants’ age was 16.56±3.23 years, and 58.0% were male. There was a significant
main effect of treatment on sexual decision-making (F(2,56) = 397.34; partial η2 = 0.93). The
participants in MT had the highest mean score (61.93) compared to those in negotiation skills
(57.57) and control (30.24) groups. There was a significant main effect of HIV riskperception on adolescents sexual decision-making (F(2,56) = 7.36; partial η2 = 0.21). The
participants with high HIV risk-perception had the highest mean score (57.45) compared to
those with moderate (45.74) and low HIV risk-perception (39.04) groups. There was a
significant main effect of self-esteem on sexual decision-making behaviour (F(2,56) = 32.02;
partial η2 = 0.53). Those with high level of self-esteem had the highest mean score (53.18)
compared to those with moderate (51.16) and low self-esteem (40.46) groups. There was a
significant interaction effect of treatment and self-esteem on sexual decision-making (F(4,56) =
2.15, partial η2 = 0.13) in favour of those with high self-esteem in MT group. There was no
significant effect of treatment and HIV risk-perception. There was no significant interaction
effect of HIV risk-perception and self-esteem on sexual decision-making. The three-way
interaction effect was not significant.
Metacognitive therapy and negotiation skills training enhanced sexual decision-makingx
among in-school adolescents in Bayelsa State, with Metacognitive Therapy being more
effective. Counselling psychologists and other helping professionals should adopt these
interventions for effective sexual decision-making.
