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. 2023 Jun 27;30(3):42–59. doi: 10.21315/mjms2023.30.3.4

Table 2.

Study instrument and findings

Authors, year Instrument/Psychometric properties Data collection period Intervention characteristics Finding
Mohammadzadeh et al., 2019 (29) Validated Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for depression = 0.81, anxiety = 0.79 and stress = 0.81

  • Pre-intervention

  • Immediately post-intervention

  • 4 months post-intervention

 20 activities were conducted by the researcher, twice weekly for 2 h to 2½ h per session in the Malay language The mean scores of depressions, anxiety, stress was significantly decreased compared to the pre-test scores for depression (F = 33.80; P < 0.001; η2 = 0.11), for anxiety (F = 6.28; P = 0.01; η2 = 0.02), stress (F = 32.05; P < 0.001; η2 = 0.11)
Lee et al., 2020 (38) Center for epidemiologic studies depression scale for children (CESDC), with Cronbach alpha, was 0.85

  • Post-intervention

 27 class sessions were conducted for 45 min by the teacher Life skills was associated with reduction of depressive symptoms among males but not females. Boys in the Life Skills group had significantly lower total CESDC scores and lower depressed affect scores (M = 10.49, SD = 7.47; M = 2.14, SD = 3.43, respectively) than those in the education as usual group (M = 11.64, SD = 9.14; M = 2.71, SD = 4.37, respectively)
Jamali et al., 2016 (39) Validated stress questionnaire (based on Kettle personality scale), with Cronbach’s alpha for stress (α = 0.76)

  • pre-intervention

  • post-intervention

 Qualified trainers provided eight sessions (two sessions a week for 2 h) to the intervention group for 1 month The mean scores of the stress factor in the intervention group (18.48) and control group (22.18) was statistically significant, F (2, 97) = 6.15, P < 0.001, η2 = 0.113
Yankey and Urmi, 2012 (42) The Problem Questionnaire for stress, with reliability (Cronbach alpha = 0.83) and validity (from 0.18 to 0.45)

  • Pre-intervention

  • Post-intervention after (2 weeks)

 30 basic sessions and 15 additional sessions for students who were not able to comprehend life skills in one session. Follow up assessments were done 2 weeks post-intervention Life skills have significantly contributed to reducing stress related to school, leisure and self among Tibetan adolescents. School stress for the experimental group was significantly lower (M = 20.84, SD = 4.92) as compared to the control group (M = 22.64, SD = 5.34) in the post-intervention scores
McMullen and McMullen, 2018 (44) The African Youth Psychosocial Assessment Instrument (AYPA) for ‘depression/anxiety-like symptoms, with Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.86)

  • Pre-intervention

  • Post-intervention (after 1 year)

 There were around 24 lessons conducted by teachers for 45 min–60 min The intervention group had a significant reduction in internalising problems (depression/anxiety-like symptoms), F (1,167) = 11.14, P = 0.001, η2 = 0.063
Roy et al., 2016 (43) Manipal Stress Questionnaire (MSQ), psychometric property was not documented

  • Pre-intervention

  • 1-month post-intervention

  • 3 months post-intervention

 Validated 7 days sessions programme. The programme was conducted for 50 min–60 min The mean stress scores among adolescents who underwent the intervention program reduced significantly from 133 to 116 after 1 month and to 117 after 3 months follow up (P < 0.05)
Ndetei et al., 2019 (45) Youth self-report (YSR), with (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.82) and high test-retest reliably (r = 0.88)

  • Pre-intervention

  • 9 months post-intervention

 The training session was done at 8 h for 4 weeks with all schools Life Skill intervention was significantly improving in the internalising YSR symptoms. There was an overall decrease in the internalising problems from 36.8% to 7.3%. AOR = 0.12; 95% CI: 0.09, 0.16. Better outcomes among girls than boys, rural region than urban, and in upper classes than in lower
Mohammadi and Poursaberi, 2018 (40) The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), with (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.90)

  • Pre-intervention

  • Post-intervention

 A clinical psychologist provided 13 training sessions for 45 min The mean score of depressions, anxiety was decreased significantly after the training program, the anxiety score in the intervention group was M(SD) = 6.61 (2.62), compared to the control group M(SD)= 10.33 (2.37). While the depression score was 11.05 (2.84) for the intervention and 15.95 (2.33) for the control group
Eslami et al., 2016 (41) Depression anxiety stress scales (DASS-21), with validity and reliability, were confirmed

  • Pre-intervention

  • immediately post-intervention

  • 2 months post-intervention

 Eight sessions for 45 min were conducted by the researcher for 3 months The results revealed a significant decrease in the level of anxiety and stress in the experimental group as compared to the control group after 2 months of the intervention (P < 0.001). However, there was no significant difference in the depression score in the intervention group immediately and 2 months post-intervention (P < 0.09)
McMahon and Stephanie, 2020 (46) The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS), with Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.82)

  • Pre-test

  • Post-test

 10-session life skills programme with 2 h for 2 weeks was provided by the teacher The result showed a significant decrease in social anxiety, Wilk’s Lamda = 0.84, F (1, 26) = 5.07; P = 0.03, partial η2 = 0.16 among the experimental group compared to the control group