The Effectiveness of Life Skills Education With Religious Approach to Safety, Mental Health and Self-Esteem in Elementary School Students

Abstract

This study is concerned with the effectiveness of religious life skills training, and its impact on the mental health and self-esteem of elementary school children. The statistical population of the study includes all the male students studying in fifth grade of elementary school in district 12 of Tehran in the educational year 2011-12. Method: Morgan Table was used for determining the size of the sample which was 60. The sixty students were randomly assigned to the experimental and the control groups. A pre-test was administered to both groups and then the experimental group received 16 sessions of religious life skills instruction in 16 weeks. The present study is quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. Research Tools: Goldberg General Health Questionnaire GHQ-28, Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory (GCSE) and the Practical Guide to the Instruction of Religious Life Skills were the instruments used in this research. The reliability of Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire was reported to be 0.91 and the reliability of the scale of Coopersmith's Self- Esteem Inventory with bisection method was 0.83 and with Cronbach's alpha was 0.84. To test the hypotheses, T- test for independent groups was used. Findings: Religious life skills training improves students' mental health. Religious life skills training improves students' self-esteem. The impact of life skills training on physical symptoms of anxiety and insomnia were significant, but the impact was insignificant on social dysfunction and severe depression in students. The effectiveness of life skills training on global self-esteem, social self-esteem and academic self-esteem was significant, but was insignificant on family self-esteem. The research method of the study is quasi-experimental.

Keywords: Life skills training, mental health, self-esteem, religious approach

Introduction

The ever-increasing social changes and complexities and the expansion of social relations makes it necessary to prepare people to face difficult situations. To prevent psychological diseases and social dysfunctions, psychologists have engaged in life skills training throughout the world and in school. Life skills are the capabilities that pave the way for positive and useful behavior, and these capabilities enable the person to assume his/her social responsibilities, and cope with daily problems and interpersonal relations without hurting himself/herself and the others (Karimzadeh et al., 2009).

What has been known today as life skills is not only the product of contemporary researchers, but many of these skills can be found in divine teachings of the Quran and the sayings of Prophet Mohammad and Imams. The importance of life skills training becomes clear when we know that life skills training improve psychological- social capabilities. These capabilities help a person to cope effectively with conflicts and life situations and help him/her to act positively and in agreement with other people in the society, the social culture and the environment and promote mental health. As such, practicing life skills leads to reinforcement and change of attitudes, values and behaviors (Naseri, 2005). Therefore, helping children in developing and expanding necessary life skills seems necessary (Shoarinejd, 1992).

One of the preventive programs which has been noticed worldwide is teaching life skills to children. To improve mental health and to prevent psychological and social problems, World Health Organization prepared a program named “life skills training” which was conducted by UNICEF in 1993. Since then, this program has been studied in many countries. Different studies which were conducted after the implementation of life skills training programs in schools point to its impact on mental health and compatibility. Generally, life skills training and social skills training have the following positive impacts: Positive social behaviors on schools (positive social interactions between coworkers); promoting problem solving capabilities; reducing anger, depression, diffidence and criminal behaviors; developing inner control; social acceptability; confronting crisis; promoting courage; positive self-concept; appropriate social verbal and nonverbal skills (Naseri, 2005).

Research shows that life skills training promotes children’s and adolescents’ mental health in different ways and are one of the most fundamental preventive programs at the primary level. Health is the main part of a happy life, and schools have an important role in informing children and adolescents about hygiene and health issues and teaching life skills to them.

Studies conducted after the implementation of life skills program in schools demonstrate their impact on different dimensions of mental health such as significant reduction of social anxiety (Botvin & Eng, 1982), improvement in self-concept (Kreuter, 1991), and improvement in self-esteem (Enet, 1994). Many other studies show improvement in children’s self-confidence, improvement in teacher-student relations, reduction in school absenteeism, and reduction in misbehavior (Aniskeiwich & Wysong, 1990).

Haghighi et al. (2006) demonstrated that life skills training improves mental health and self-esteem of female students. Samari and Lalifaz (2005) demonstrated that life skills training improves mental health (family stress and social acceptability) of the participants. A research by Barlow et al. (1998) showed that life skills improve self-esteem, decision-making capability and resistance against peer pressure for drug use in schools, and is an effective program with important consequences in the health of children and adolescents (Vardi, 2004).

Research Hypotheses

The research hypotheses are:

• Family life skills training improves students’ mental health.
• Life skills training improves students’ self-esteem.
• Life skills training reduces physical symptoms.
• Life skills training reduces students’ anxiety and insomnia.
• Life skills training reduces students’ social dysfunction.
• Life skills training reduces students’ severe depression.
• Life skills training improves students’ global self-esteem.
• Life skills training improves students’ social (peers) self-esteem.
• Life skills training improves students’ family (parents) self-esteem.
• Life skills training improves students’ academic (school) self-esteem.

Research Methods

This study is a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study with an experimental group and a control group. The statistical population: The statistical population of the study includes all the male students studying in fifth grade of elementary school in district 12 of Tehran in the educational year 2011-12.

Findings

To analyze the data according to the "pretest-posttest with control group", independent T-test was used to check the significance of the differences between mean values.

Family life skills training improves students’ mental health.

As can be seen in Table 2, the posttest mean of the experimental group has decreased in comparison with that of the pretest mean. The value of t observed with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tob (58) = 2.37 and the critical value of t for a two-way test with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tcr (58) = 2.00. As tob is greater than tcr (tob > tcr), the null hypothesis is rejected and the research hypothesis, namely “Family life skills training improves students’ mental health.” is supported.

Life skills training improves students’ self-esteem.

As can be seen in Table 3, the posttest mean of the experimental group has increased considerably in comparison with that of the pretest mean. The value of t observed with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.01 is tob (58) = -2.89 and the critical value of t for a two-way test with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.01 is tcr (58)= 2.66. As tob is greater than tcr (tob > tcr), the null hypothesis is rejected and the research hypothesis, namely “Life skills training improves students’ self- esteem.” is supported.

Life skills training reduces physical symptoms.

As can be seen in Table 4, the posttest mean of the experimental group has decreased considerably in comparison with that of the pretest mean. The value of t observed with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tob (58) = 2.25 and the critical value of t for a two-way test with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tcr (58) = 2.00. As tob is greater than tcr (tob > tcr), the null hypothesis is rejected and the research hypothesis, namely “Life skills training reduces physical symptoms.” is supported.

Life skills training reduces students’ anxiety and insomnia.

As can be seen in Table 5, the posttest mean of the experimental group has decreased considerably in comparison with that of the pretest mean. The value of t observed with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tob (58) = 2.09 and the critical value of t for a two-way test with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tcr (58) = 2.00. As tob is greater than tcr (tob > tcr), the null hypothesis is rejected and the research hypothesis, namely “Life skills training reduces students’ anxiety and insomnia.” is supported.

Life skills training reduces students’ social dysfunction.

As can be seen in Table 6, the posttest mean of the experimental group has decreased in comparison with that of the pretest mean. The value of t observed with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tob (58) = 1.47 and the critical value of t for a two-way test with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tcr (58) = 2.00. As tob is smaller than tcr (tob < tcr), the null hypothesis is supported and the research hypothesis, namely “Life skills training reduces students’ social dysfunction.” is rejected.

Life skills training reduces students’ severe depression.

As can be seen in Table 7, the posttest mean of the experimental group has decreased in comparison with that of the pretest mean. The value of t observed with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tob (58) = 1.30 and the critical value of t for a two-way test with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tcr (58) = 2.00. As tob is smaller than tcr (tob < tcr), the null hypothesis is supported and the research hypothesis, namely “Life skills training reduces students’ severe depression.” is rejected.

Life skills training improves students’ global self-esteem.

As can be seen in Table 8, the posttest mean of the experimental group has increased considerably in comparison with that of the pretest mean. The value of t observed with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tob (58) = -2.17 and the critical value of t for a two-way test with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tcr (58) = 2.00. As tob is greater than tcr (tob > tcr), the null hypothesis is rejected and the research hypothesis, namely “Life skills training improves students’ global self-esteem.” is supported.

Life skills training improves students’ social (peers) self- esteem.

As can be seen in Table 9, the posttest mean of the experimental group has increased in comparison with that of the pretest mean. The value of t observed with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tob (58) = -2.41 and the critical value of t for a two-way test with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tcr (58) = 2.00. As tob is greater than tcr (tob > tcr), the null hypothesis is rejected and the research hypothesis, namely “Life skills training improves students’ social (peers) self-esteem.” is supported.

Life skills training improves students’ family (parents) self-esteem.

As can be seen in Table 10, the posttest mean of the experimental group has increased in comparison with that of the pretest mean. The value of t observed with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tob (58) = -0.84 and the critical value of t for a two-way test with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.05 is tcr (58) = 2.00. As tob is greater than tcr (tob < tcr), the null hypothesis is supported and the research hypothesis, namely “Life skills training improves students’ family (parents) self-esteem.” is rejected.

Life skills training improves students’ academic (school) self- esteem.

As can be seen in Table 11, the posttest mean of the experimental group has increased in comparison with that of the pretest mean. The value of t observed with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.01 is tob (58) = - 3.04 and the critical value of t for a two-way test with a degree of freedom of 58 at the alpha level of p < 0.01 is tcr (58) = 2.60. As tob is greater than tcr (tob > tcr), the null hypothesis is rejected and the research hypothesis, namely “Life skills training improves students’ academic (school) self-esteem.” is supported.

Discussion and Conclusion

The findings of this study demonstrate:

• Family life skills training improves students’ mental health.
• Life skills training improves students’ self-esteem.
• Life skills training reduces physical symptoms.
• Life skills training reduces students’ anxiety and insomnia.
• Life skills training does not reduce students’ social dysfunction.
• Life skills training does not reduce students’ severe depression.
• Life skills training improves students’ global self-esteem.
• Life skills training improves students’ social (peers) self-esteem.
• Life skills training does not improve students’ family (parents) self-esteem.
• Life skills training improves students’ academic (school) self-esteem.

Life skills training has proved to be a useful program and its usefulness is demonstrated in many studies. The findings of this study point to the idea that through religious life skills training children and adolescents’ mental health, compatibility and self-esteem can be improved.

Acknowledgements

The author(s) declare that there is no conflict of interest.

References

• Aghajani, M. (2002). The study of the impact of life skills training on adolescents’ mental health and control source. Unpublished MA thesis, Az-Zahra University, Tehran, Iran.

• Ahmadian, M. (2009). Theeffect of life skills education on mild intellectual and developmental disability. European Psychiatry, 24, S851.

• Alan, G. (1999). The psychology of fear and stress. Cambridge University Press.

• Bapiri, O. (1997). The study of the effectiveness of group problem-solving skills in the treatment of suicide- committing adolescents in Ilam. Unpublished MA thesis, Iran University of medical Sciences, Tehran Institute of Psychiatry.

• Beigloo, H. (1995). The study of the success and effectiveness of family training classes in increasing and awareness of participants. Unpublished MA thesis. Tehran: Islamic Azad University, Tehran Central Branch.

• Bo, W., Xiaoming, L., Bonita, S., & Xiaoyi, F. (2010). The influence of social stigma and discriminatory experience on psychological distress and quality of life among rural-to-urban migrants in China. Social Science & Medicine, 71(1), 84–92

• Bob, L., & Roisin, D. (2010). Using podcasts to support communication skills development: A case study for content format preferences among postgraduate research students. Computers & Education, 54(4), 962-971.

• Botvin, G. J., & Kantor, L. W. (2000). Preventing alcohol and tobacco use through life skills training. Alcohol Research & Health, 24(4), 250–257.

• Bjørshol, C. A., Lindner, T. W., Søreide, E., Moen, L., & Sunde, K. (2009). Hospital employees improve basic life support skills and confidence with a personal resuscitation manikin and a 24-min video instruction. Resuscitation, 80(8), 898–902. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Esmaili, M. (2001). The study of the impact of teaching the life skills course on the self-esteem of Ardabil province students. Payam Moshaver Quarterly, 6.

• Haghighi, J., Mousavi, M., Mehrabzadeh H. M., & Beshkideh, K. (2006). The study of the impact of life skills training on mental health and self-esteem of female ninth grade high school students. Ahvaz Shahid Chamran University Journal of Educational Sciences, 13(1), 61-78.

• Hajizadeh, K. (2003). The study and comparison of the relationship between mental health and behavioral performance of first children (male and female) of families in the south of Tehran. Unpublished MA thesis, Tehran: Islamic Azad University, Science and research Branch.

• Hosseini, S. A. (1999). Concepts and goals of mental health. Mental Health Principles, 1(1).

• Jefferson, V., Jaser, S. S., Lindemann, E., Galasso, P., Beale, A., Holl, M. G., & Grey, M. (2011). Coping skills training in a telephone health coaching program for youth at Risk for type 2 diabetes. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 25(3), 153-161.

• Karimzadeh, E. (2009). The guide to the instruction of life skills. Tehran, Yadman Honar Andisheh.

• Martin, I., & Jones, D. (2009). Exploring the life skills needs of British adolescent athletes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 10(1), 159-167.

• Kurtz, M. M., Seltzer, J. C., Fujimoto, M., Shagan, D. S., & Wexler, B. E. (2009). Predictors of Change in Life Skills in Schizophrenia after Cognitive Remediation. Schizoph Res, 107, 267-274.

• McCroskey, J. C., & Payne, S. K. (1989). The impact of communication apprehension on student retention and success: A preliminary report. ACA Bulletin, 56, 65-69.

• Mishara, B. L., & Ystgaard, M. (2006). Effectiveness of mental health promotion program to improve coping skills in young children: Zippy’s Friends. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 21, 110-123.

• Naseri, H. (2005). Guide to the instruction of life skills. Tehran, Behzisti Orazanization of Iran.

• Quatman, T., & Watson, C. M. (2001). Gender differences in adolescent self-esteem: An exploration of domains. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 162(1), 93-117.

• Sahope, M. (1996). Irrational beliefs that can lead to academic failure for African American middle school students who are academically at risk. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 14(2), 123-134.

• Samari, A. A., & Lalifaz, A. (2005) The study of the effectiveness of life skills training on family stress and social acceptability. Mental Health Principles Quarterly, 7(25&26), 47 -55.

• Sharifi, G. (1993). The study of the impact of problem-solving training in the treatment of depression symptoms in adolescents. Unpublished MA thesis in clinical psycho l o g y, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran Institute of Psychiatry.

• Shoarinejd, A. (1992). The role of extra-curricular activities in the upbringing of adolescents. Tehran: Ettela’at Institute

• Turner, N. E., Macdonald J., & Somerset, M. (2008). Life skills, mathematical reasoning and critical thinking: curriculum for prevention of problem gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 7, 109-116

• Vardi, M. (2004). The study of the impact of life skills training on assertiveness, self-esteem and responsibility of female students of first grade high school in Ahwaz. Research council of Khoozestan province education department.

• Victoria, W., Karina, W., & Rainer, K. S. (2009). The life skills program IPSY: Positive influences on school bonding and prevention of substance misuse. Journal of Adolescence, 32(6), 1391-1401.

• Wichroski, A. (2000). Preliminary analysis of family life skills program. Presented at the national association for welfare research and statistics annual workshop, Cleveland, Ohio, August, 10 1999.

• World health Organization. Life Skills Training Program, translated by Robabeh Noori Ghasemabadi and Parvaneh Mohammadkhani (1998). Tehran: WHO’s Section on Health and Prevention of Substance Abuse.

• Yadavari, M. (2004). The impact of life skills training on general health, self-esteem and assertiveness of female students of high school in Ahwaz. Unpublished MA thesis in general psychology, Islamic Azad University, Ahwaz Branch.