Assessing effectiveness of the "Stress Management’s Skills Development Program" on the general and mental health indicators of female high school students in Tabriz

Abstract

Background: Stress is a widespread phenomenon in today’s societies and is the cause of many disorders. Due to the biological changes and puberty during the adolescence and its consequent mental problems this period could be a sensitive period in life. Main purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of "Stress Managements Skills Development Program" on the mental health status of female high school students in Tabriz. Methods: The nonequivalent group, pretest-posttest design was applied to conduct this study from Novembe 2013 to December 2013 in Tabriz, Iran. After obtaining approval from the relevant Ethics Committee of the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences and permission from the students’ parents, the research project was carried out. Subjects were selected from the city number 4 educational region, which included three subregions. One of the sub-regions was chosen randomly and within the area two high schools were selected with almost same educational and environmental conditions randomly as the experimental and control groups. The study participants were instructed about filling the questionnaire in advance. The sample size included 289 participants (148 in the experimental and 141 in the control groups). Studying was at the grade of 9. The intervention was started with performing a diagnostic pretest and according to the acquired data the stress management skills’ training courses by a psychologist and based on the "McNamara model" were provided along with some environmental changes. The study data after final manipulation were analyzed using the SPSS22 and Mintab16. Results: The results were indicative of the intervention’s positive impact. Based on the findings the mean scores of the happiness, self-efficacy, stress management, hopefulness and life satisfaction significantly increased in the intervention group (p≤ 0.001). Conclusion: The study results might suggest that implementation of the reinforcing and supportive program can developing student’s mental health.