A life skills intervention for school-going adolescents in India

Background

Young people face many stressors in their day-to-day lives. Life skills programmes are designed to help young people to cope better with stressors and deal positively with difficult situations.

 

Aim

The major objective of the present study was to explore the effect of a life skills intervention on depression, anxiety and stress among adolescents in India.

 

Methods

The study followed a quasi-experimental research design using a multistage random sampling technique, and 970 adolescents were included in the study. The study was conducted in three phases. In the first phase, pre-testing was done using the Punjabi version of the Depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS) to assess for depression, anxiety and stress among Indian adolescents. The life skills intervention was conducted during the second phase of the study, among students in class IX in Government Secondary Schools located in 11 districts of Punjab, India. Post-testing was done in the third phase, at the end of the life skills intervention. Analysis of covariance was conducted for data analysis.

 

Conclusions

The results of the study indicated that the life skills intervention was associated with a significant reduction of depression, anxiety and stress among the study participants. Our findings suggest that such life skill programs should be researched further, in view of integrating them into the school curriculum.