Investigating the effectiveness of resilience training on the quality of life and reducing high-risk behaviors of students

Dissertation for Master's Degree in Educational Psychology

Abstract:

The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of "resilience training" on the quality of life and reducing risky behaviors in middle school students. The research method is semi-experimental and its design is pre-test-post-test with experimental and control groups. The statistical population of this research included all the female students of Hamadan Middle School who were studying in the academic year of 1992-1993. The sample of participants in this research was 30 people, who were selected as available sampling. This sample of 30 people were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, thus 15 people were in the experimental group and 15 people were in the control group. Data collection tools are Connor and Davidson resilience questionnaire, quality of life test (SF-36), high-risk behavior test. In order to analyze the results, in addition to using descriptive statistics, analysis of covariance was used. The findings showed that resilience training was effective in increasing the quality of life (physical health, mental health, reducing physical problems, reducing physical pain, increasing general health) and reducing high-risk behaviors (violence, drug use), but it did not have a significant effect on some components of the quality of life such as physical performance, vitality, emotional problems, and one of the components of high-risk behaviors such as unsafe sex. In general, resilience training has a good effect on some components of quality of life and risky behaviors.

Key words: resilience, quality of life, risky behaviors, students

Introduction

Life is a divine gift that humans benefit from in a short journey during their lifetime. Having a good quality of life has been and is a human desire. Over the years, finding the true meaning of a good life and how to achieve it has focused the thoughts and studies of philosophers. Accordingly, since the beginning, various definitions of good life and quality of life have been presented by thinkers and researchers (Hanstead [1], 1999). Quality of life is people's perception of their position in life, which is based on the context of the culture and value system in which they live and is related to the goals, expectations, and standards of the individual (Guyatt, Feni and Patrick[2], 1993). The World Health Organization's definition of health as complete physical, mental and social well-being, not just the absence of disease and disability, has led to the expansion of attention from illness to performance and other positive aspects of health (Kaplan, Sadok[3], 2009). Quality of life can be considered as an operational tool for measuring overall health and well-being, and it is currently cited as a key indicator that should be routinely considered in health research. Also, currently, the issue of quality of life is one of the major concerns of politicians and public health experts, and it is known and used as an indicator for measuring health status in public health and medical research (Gil, Feinstein [4], 2003). Farish believes that the study of the well-being of individuals and societies and its promotion is the greatest scientific challenge of mankind after the increase and progress in the field of technology, medicine and wealth (Fareish 2006, quoted by Ghasemi, Kajbaf and Rabiei, 2013). For this reason, today's treatments should be focused on improving and changing the quality of life and expanding capabilities and creating satisfaction with life in people, especially teenagers. In addition to the quality of life, it is necessary and necessary to pay attention to high-risk behaviors in adolescents.

Personal, biological and psychological experiences bring about extensive changes in adolescence, and during these changes, people discover new and different behavioral and emotional stimuli for their adult lives. They have a long-term impact on health, increase the risk of premature mortality, and have psychological and social consequences (Gonzalez and Field [5], 1994). Important behavioral patterns that can affect a person's entire life, such as drug use and sexual misconduct patterns, begin during this period (Janpablo and Stephen [6], 2004). In adolescence, a person determines his position in his family, friends and society. Social, family and economic factors play an important role in the behavioral bias of people.Most teenagers have challenges with family, society and relatives, and the pressure of these problems may push teenagers towards risky behaviors in the decision-making stage. Today's society faces teenagers and families with many needs. During adolescence, people learn by experience and therefore face various risks. At this stage, the teenager is drawn from the family to the society. and strives to gain social status. (Barikani, 1387) The sudden and widespread changes that occur in all aspects of adolescent life create a critical stage, which will naturally bring problems and inconsistencies, therefore, considering the importance of this period, the basic and scientific knowledge of this stage is considered very important and sensitive to prevent abnormalities and problems arising from it by providing the necessary information and awareness to adolescents and acquiring the necessary skills to deal with the problems caused by these changes. (Nuri Qasimabadi and Mohammad Khani, 1377).

2-1 Statement of the problem

Today, students are considered one of the important strata of society because of the important role they will play in the future administration of a country, and the importance of this role is that students are the main managers in the future administration of the country and the pioneers of other sections of society in the direction of perfection and the goals of the country. On the other hand, part of the students will be responsible for the education of the generations after them in the future, and in this way they are indirectly involved in the perfection of the next generations of the society (Azad[7], 2003). Due to the fact that the students are from the chosen stratum and the future builders of the country, whose quality of life will certainly influence their learning and academic success (Esfandiari, 1999), therefore, knowing the factors that can increase the quality of life of this stratum is considered important and should be addressed.

One of the important constructs in the field of health psychology is resilience, which has a special place in the fields of positive psychology, family psychology, and mental health. Connor and Davidson [8] (2003) describe resilience as the ability of a person to establish biological-psychological balance in dangerous situations. They don't consider resilience only to be stable against threatening conditions, but they consider the active participation of a person in the environment to be important. Nowadays, resilience has gained a special place for itself in the fields of mental health and psychology of change, and it has been considered as an important structure in well-being theories and researches for more than two decades (Abraham and Griff Carla [9], 2008). Kampfer[10] (1996) believes that resilience plays an important role in returning to the initial balance or reaching a higher level of balance, and therefore provides positive and successful adaptation in life, at the same time, Kampfer points out that positive adaptation to life can be both a consequence of resilience and a precursor to a higher level of resilience. He considers this problem to be caused by the complexity of the definition and the process view of resilience. Resilience refers to a dynamic process that humans show in the form of positive adaptive behavior when facing adverse conditions or trauma (Lothar, Cicchetti and Baker [11], 2000). Some characteristics are potentially deposited in people. But their emergence and elevation requires more detailed knowledge, cultivation and application. Resilience refers to the ability of humans to adapt in the face of disasters or life-threatening pressures, to overcome and even be strengthened by those experiences. This trait is supported, developed and crystallized as a positive trait by a person's inner ability and social skills and interaction with the environment (Diener, Lucas, Shimek and Helliwell [12], 2009). According to Massen and Kohornen [13] (2001), people can be trained to increase their resilience capacity by learning some skills, and people's reactions to stress, unpleasant events and difficulties can be changed, so that they can overcome negative environmental problems. Due to the fact that resilience is considered as a two-dimensional concept, i.e. the importance of adversity and positive adaptation, resilience can influence the quality of life and its dimensions (Lotar[14], 2006, quoted by Mikaili, Mokhtarpourhabashi, Mismi, 2013). In today's world, improving the quality of life is of special importance, which actually means the distance between people's expectations and experiences of it (Nasiri, Mokhtari, Meshaf, 2003).