Spirituality and Mental Health among Public Primary School Teachers in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed association between spirituality and mental health among teachers in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. Spirituality is known as a factor that positively adds to many individuals’ health, and the concept of spirituality found in all and societies and cultures. In a literary meaning, it can be interpreted as a way by which individual involve himself/herself in religion participation or belief in God, naturalism, meditation, humanism, family and the arts. mental health occurs when a person satisfying with life, work effectively and vehemently, manage with usual stress, and contribute positively to his or her community and society. The ability of an individual to adjust in his/her environment socially, mentally, and physically is known as mental health of such individual. A school-based cross-sectional survey design was adopted for this study. The population of this study comprises all public primary school teachers in three selected Local Government in Maiduguri; Jere, Konduga and MMC, 406, 195 and 711 respectively numbering 1,312, while the sample size is 400. Proportionate sample technique was used to ensure equal aggregate as the number of respondents in each local government differs, while availability sampling method was used to administer the questionnaire to the available teachers in the school. The name of the instrument for this study is Association between Spirituality and Mental Health. It uses 4-point likert scale where 4 = Strongly Agree SA, 3 = Agree A, 2 = Disagree D, 1= Strongly Disagree SD. The instrument validated for content and face validity by experts in the Department of Education University of Maiduguri by specialists in Testing and Measurement, and Psychology. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Split-half reliability method. The reliability of the instrument was test at Gwange Primary School Maiduguri, Borno State among 20 teachers. Data collected were analyzed using Cronbach Alpha reliability full test of 0.71 and 0.83 respectively which adjudge it reliable. Descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentages were used to describe the demographic information of the respondents, mean and standard deviation were used to answered the research questions, while inferential statistics of Independent Sampled t-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) were used to test the hypotheses. The result indicated that level of spiritual health among teachers in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria is high, but poor mental health. Moreover, the result indicated that there is significant relationship between spirituality and mental health among public primary school teachers in Borno State, Nigeria (P<.05). It was concluded that the level of spirituality among public primary school teachers in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria is, but their mental health is considerable low. Government, proprietors, principal may develop programs that facilitate the identification, prevention, and treatment of mental health among teachers.

Keywords: Spirituality, Human Spirituality, Health, Mental Health.