Promoting Mental Health in Schools: Impact Assessment of a Positive Behavior Intervention for Adolescents

Description

Harsha Joshi and Kalpana Jain (Department of Psychology, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, Rajasthan)

Adolescent mental health is an emerging concern globally and particularly in India, where school-going youth face academic, social, and emotional challenges. Addressing these issues through structured interventions is crucial to enhance well-being and mental health of adolescents. The focus of the present study is to examine the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of a Positive Behavior Intervention (PBI) designed including the constructs of positive psychology like gratitude, resilience, forgiveness, optimism and the like to improve adolescents’ mental health. A pre-test, post-test experimental control group design was employed with 30 adolescents (n = 15 experimental, n = 15 control). The experimental group received a ten-session Positive Behavior Intervention, while the control group received no intervention. Mental health was assessed using the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (Keyes). Preliminary findings indicated significant improvements in the experimental group compared to the control group, suggesting that the intervention had a positive impact on adolescent mental health highlighting the effectiveness of the Positive Behavior Intervention in enhancing adolescent mental health. Findings provide support for further refinement and large-scale evaluation of the program in diverse adolescent populations.