UGC Sponsored Minor Research entitled - “A Study On The Efficacy Of Social Care Intervention For Enhancing Adolescents Well Being”
- Dr Rameela Shekhar
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
“Adolescence is a formative period during which children grow into their rightful place as full citizens and agents of change in their own lives and the lives of their societies” (UNICEF, 2012). Thus, the holistic well-being of adolescents is a prime need which can be ensured through various promotive programmes.
The present study was an intervention study. Quasi-experimental design was used. The study intended to measure the effectiveness of various intervention modules. The schools that permitted data collection formed the population of the study. There were 4 schools – 2 urban and 2 rural. The students of classes 8, 9 and 10 were screened using the SRQs. Th````e students who scored above 8 on SRQ formed the sample of the study. The sample was divided into 6 groups each receiving one programme, respectively. A pre-test was conducted before providing the interventions and after 6 months of the interventions a post test was conducted. The data were coded and analysed using SPSS. Following were the results.
Self-Esteem Programme
Majority (84%) of the students have moderate self-esteem. Boys (83.3%) compared to girls have positive opinion about self. Through the programme there has been significant learning through the activities. However, there has not been a significant change in the level of self-esteem which indicates need for long-term interventions for a change in the level of self-esteem.
Communication Skill Building Programme
Through this session the students learnt about types of communication, importance of assertiveness and direct communication. For the effectiveness of the programme, long-term interventions and frequent sessions would be required.
Decision-Making Skill Building Programme
Though earlier studies have tried establishing the relation between family type and decision making, the current study found no relation between the two. The skill is better among girls than boys. The results also threw light on the adolescents’ understanding about the need for decision-making skill – for taking right decisions and for positive outcome as reported by majority. Seeking help from others is one of the techniques, adopted by many, for decision making. Though the programme has not brought changes in this skill, the steps explained were partially remembered by majority (56%) of them and completely by 12% of the sample.
Stress Management Programme
The stress level is more in boys and urban adolescents than girls and rural adolescents. The intervention programme has also been effective as the stress level reduced post intervention. In addition to this, the other learning that students appreciated from the programme has been their ability to identify stress and cope efficiently post interventions. However, they have stressed on emotion focused coping rather than problem focused coping though both were addressed during training. This represents the poor problem focused coping in adolescents and the need to emphasize on the same.
Substance Use Prevention
Substance use prevalence among female adolescents is significant. Alcohol and nicotine are the commonly used/tried substances. Religion has a protective role from substance use. Substance use in adolescents belonging to those religions where substance use is accepted is higher. Likewise, substance use was higher in prevalence among adolescents with family ritual of substance use during social gathering. This signifies the learning process in the adolescents. However, there has been a decline in the use post the interventions. Likewise there has been improvement in the knowledge related to health which was further corroborated through the qualitative responses.
Suicide Prevention
There has not been significant improvement in the level of adolescent knowledge, attitudes and belief. Majority of the participants have been females and from urban schools. However, the qualitative responses showed following messages being picked up by the students: need to seek help when one is suicidal and the ease in problem solving with help.
Conclusion
As viewed in the previous chapters, the prevalence of the mental health issue among adolescents is rapidly increasing. Long-term programmes pave way to getting over this issue. By imbibing new approaches in the programmes and by conducting frequent evidence-based programmes in small groups, the positive outcome on the mental health of the young population can be ensured. The feasibility of the programme should be better utilized so that the adolescent population is benefited.
