Assessment of counseling therapy for pre-retirement Anxiety among Academic Staff in Universities in Kano state, Nigeria

Pre-retirement anxiety affects the performance of workers and its presence can be avoided with adequate planning for retirement. This study was conducted to ascertain the extent towards which university academic staff of Kano state plan towards retirement and the counselling strategies appropriate for overcoming pre-retirement anxiety. Survey method was employed, where one hundred and fifty-three (153) academic staffs were drawn as sample size. Questionnaire was used as data collection instrument and the data was analysed using statistical software package for social sciences (SPSS) 23.0. The result showed that the majority of the respondents were aware of retirement as mandatory upon reaching the mandatory age of retirement a figure of up to 84.3%.while a large proportion of the respondents cited sudden death as a cause of anxiety (62.1%), others disagree with the concept that total dependence on salary can result to anxiety (73.2%). The overall level of readiness and preparedness towards retirement was generally recorded to be low. The most favourite counselling strategy trusted by the study group is union facilitated (93%), followed by mandatory retirement counselling program and annual evaluation of preparedness to retirement both on an equal proportion (83%). It is therefore, recommended that pre-retirement counselling should be provided to academic staff prior to retirement time.