A mental health promotion program among Iranian female high school students

Abstract

Background Female adolescents have a higher prevalence of disorder especially in the developing countries and tradition communities. Adolescence is due to accompanied with puberty and transitional age are suffering of mental health problems. Main purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of psychological well-being promotion on the mental health status of female high school students in Iran. Methods The non equivalent group, pretest-posttest design was applied to conduct this study from November 2013 to December 2013 in Tabriz, Iran on 289 participants (148 in the experimental and 141 in the control groups). One of the sub-regions of Tabriz city was chosen randomly and within the area two high schools were selected with almost same environmental conditions randomly as the experimental and control groups. Participants who were in the 9th grade were recruited randomly and classified in the both groups of intervention and control. After diagnostic evaluation, the planned program was performed based on two approaches of: (1) environmental changes (playing music during breaks, sports competitions, and interior decorating classes); (2) stress management skills development program. Results The results were indicative of the intervention's positive impact. Based on the findings, the mean scores of the happiness significantly increased in the intervention group ( P ≤0.001). The mean scores of the stress significantly decreased in the intervention group ( P ≤0.001). Conclusion The study results suggested that implementation mental health promotion program improved mental health indices which indicates effectiveness of comprehensive school health programs.