Effectiveness of holistic group health promotion program on educational stress, anxiety, and depression among adolescent girls – A pilot study

BACKGROUND: Academic stress is one of the major stresses among adolescents and it has been associated with poor mental health. AIM: Evaluate effectiveness of holistic intervention on educational stress among adolescent girls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Randomized controlled design was adopted and study was conducted at selected colleges of Dharwad city, India. 60 adolescent girls were randomly assigned to either experimental or control group. All subjects were initially assessed for educational stress, depression and anxiety. The experimental group subjects received 8 sessions of holistic intervention. No intervention was given to control group subjects. Post intervention assessments were done at the end of 1(st), 2(nd) and 3(rd) months. RESULTS: Experimental group subjects showed statistically significant decrease in educational stress, depression and anxiety over 3 months follow-up compared to control group subjects. CONCLUSION: This study provided evidence of integrating a holistic intervention in reducing stress.