Life Skills Training as an Effective Intervention Strategy to Reduce Stress among Tibetan Refugee Adolescents

Abstract

Today, the increasing complexity of life in a time of socio-cultural and economic transition has led to the emergence of various problems, such that literacy and numerical skills alone will not help children to face the growing challenges. Thus, skill based training has been in much demand to empower children to resolve such conflicts successfully. Among the many existing skill based training programmes, life skills training (LST) has been a buzzword especially in school and health care education. Life skills are psychosocial competencies and contribute greatly to achieving psychological, social and mental well-being. Although there is no definitive list of life skills, any skill which is psychosocial and interpersonal in nature can be labelled a life skill. WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA listed 10 skills as the most essential, which have been particularly considered for the present study. The 10 core skills which are relevant across cultures are decision making, problem solving, creative thinking, critical thinking, effective communication, interpersonal relationship, empathy, self-awareness, coping with emotions and coping with stress.