Are life skills-based interventions effective to reduce peer problems among school-going adolescents in a conflict-affected rural area in Sri Lanka?

Introduction: Peer problems are common among school-going adolescents, and it is important to take action to reduce them and promote the mental health of the students.

 

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of a life skills-based educational module to reduce peer problems among the grade 10 students of Ampara health district, Sri Lanka

 

Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in Ampara Educational Zone. The schools were purposively selected for the intervention and control groups. A total of 368 grade 10 students were recruited for the study. Out of them, 187 students were allocated to the intervention group and 181 students to the control group. The life skills-based educational intervention was delivered only to the intervention group and the control group was not given any similar kind of training. The effectiveness of the intervention was assessed after 12 weeks of the initiation.

 

Results: There was a significant improvement in friendships in the intervention group (p=0.03). There was no statistically significant reduction in violent activities in the intervention group (χ2=0.5; df=1, p=0.4). No statistically significant reduction in the abnormal peer score (χ2=0.01; p=0.8) and total SDQ score (χ2=0.9; df=1; p=0.3) was noticed among the intervention group when compared to the control group.

 

Conclusions & Recommendations: Life skills-based intervention effectively improved friendship activities among the intervention group after 12 weeks of the initiation.