The effect of School-Based Mental Health Program on positive mental health and self-confidence level in adolescents

This study is an experimental study conducted to evaluate the effects of the "School-Based Mental Health Program" applied to adolescents on the positive mental health levels and self-confidence of the students. The study is a parallel group randomized controlled study designed in a pre-test, post-test design. This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov with the number (NCT06935981). The universe of the study consists of 9th grade students studying at Erbil Koru Anatolian High School in Selçuklu district of Konya province. Adolescents were assigned to the intervention and control groups by simple randomization method. A total of 66 adolescents, 33 intervention and 33 control, participated in the study. A mental health-related education program was applied to the students in the intervention group for 8 weeks, one session per week. Before the education process started and after the education was completed, a Personal Information Form, Positive Mental Health Scale and Self-Confidence Scale were applied to both groups. For descriptive statistics, the data were analyzed using the number, percentage, mean and standard deviation, and the t-test for independent groups was used for the normal distribution of the data for the scale score averages according to the control and intervention groups, and the t-test for dependent groups was used for the normal distribution of the data for the comparison of the score averages between the baseline and post-intervention measurements. The t-test was used for independent groups in the comparisons between the groups, while the mixed ANOVA test was used to examine the time and group interaction. According to the findings of the study, no significant difference was found between the total Positive Mental Health Scale score averages of both groups before the training. However, after the training, a statistically significant increase was observed in the positive mental health scores of the intervention group, and this increase constituted a significant difference when compared to the control group. Similarly, a significant increase was also found in the self-confidence levels of the intervention group. While the post-test results obtained in the Self-Confidence Scale changed positively in the intervention group, no such development was observed in the control group. These findings reveal that school-based mental health education is effective in improving the psychological well-being and self-confidence of students. It was concluded that the education program contributed to increasing the mental resilience and self-worth of individuals in adolescence. In this respect, the research emphasizes the importance of school-based mental health interventions and shows that such programs should be given more place in education policies.