The effect of behavioral interventions in reducing anxiety, improving self-esteem and preventing intention to academic dropout among engineering girl students

Higher educational institutions are among those areas where gender inequality is widely observed in terms of departmental preference, number and academic achievement. Various factors are accountable for lower academic performance and higher attrition rates of female students. In addition to subordinate historical place of women, the general institutional environment, the overall interaction and practice the students make with school personnel, institutional rules and regulations, sanctions, and the organizational structure are also undeniable. Student’s personality, motivation, mental health and training also affect academic performance of female students. The main objective of the study is to examine the efficacy of behavioral interventions in reducing anxiety, unfolding self-esteem and prevention of intention to academic dropout among female pre-engineering students of Wolaita Sodo University. The study employed experimental study where measurement was undertaken before and after the behavioral intervention. Beck Anxiety scale, Rosenberg Self-esteem (RSE) scales and Likert scale were the major data collection tools. On top of this in-depth interview with six students was undertakes to collect qualitative data on how students background and life experiences affect their level of self-esteem, anxiety and drop out intention. Descriptive, correlation and t-test were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that the effect of behavioral intervention in reducing anxiety, unfolding self-esteem and prevention of intention to academic dropout is found to be statistically significant. Hence the researcher recommends the university to extend the provision of counseling sessions to all female students of all departments in a regular basis to maintain their psychological wellbeing. Specifically, it will unfold their self- esteem and reduce the level of anxiety and intention to dropout.