The effect of a psychodrama based intervention program on the level of hopelessness and suicidality in university students with mild depression

This study was conducted according to experimental design to examine the effects of mild depression on hopelessness and suicidal tendency levels by applying a psychodrama-based intervention program. 60 university students (30 students control group and 30 students study group) who had mild depression scores from the Beck Depression Inventory (11-16 points), had hopelessness and suicidal tendency were included to the study. Sessions were carried out with a semi-structured, process-focused psychodrama intervention program on hopelessness concept. The study consisted of 13 sessions with 2 sessions per week and 3 hours sessions with a total duration of 1.5 months. In this study, "experimental model with pretest / posttest control group" was studied from real experimental models. Beck Depression, Beck Hopelessness and Suicide Probability scales were used as data measurement tools in the collection of data. The scales were presented as pre-test measures, post-test measures and follow-up test measures in the study group and in the control group. The scales were given to the students before and after the study; it was also applied to the study group again 4 weeks after the end of the program. In order to test the aims of the study, frequency, t test and repeated measurement tests were used to analyze data. There was no significant difference between the average scores of the initial measures (pre-test) of the participants in the study group and the control group. Significant differences were found between pretest/posttest scores of depression, hopelessness and suicidal tendency levels of participants in the study group. Posttest measurements were significantly higher than pretest measurements. Depression, hopelessness, and suicidal tendency levels of the pretest/posttest measures were not statistically significant in the control group. There was no statistical significance between the posttest measurements and the follow-up measurements of the depression, hopelessness and suicide scale of the study group. It was determined that the effectiveness of the program continued on the study group at the follow-up measurement 4 weeks after the end of the psychodrama-based intervention program.With these results is: It was seen that the psychodrama-based intervention program reduced the levels of depression, hopelessness, and suicidal tendencies of the group members.