Background: Adolescence is a complex maturational and developmental process with diverse variation across individuals and cultures, especially among vocational students. However, implanting life skills can help pass through this portal to adulthood, thus resulting in emotional maturity and the mental capacity to deal with the onslaught of life’s challenges. The purpose of this study was to verify the effectiveness of a Life Skills Enhancement Program for Vocational students (LSEP-V) with the aim to increase the level of well-being and strengths, which in turn would reduce behavioral issues for vocational students aged 15-25 years in Thailand.
Methods: Intervention groups from 22 colleges of both lower and higher level students (n = 1,283) received 10 x 45-60-minute ‘LSEP-V’ sessions. The control group was another 13 colleges of vocational students (n = 499) from nearby areas. All participants completed the Five Well-being Index (WHO-5) and Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at the pre, post, and three-month follow-up periods. Analysis using one-way ANOVA and t-tests was conducted to examine within the group time effect from the pretreatment to the post-treatment and from the post-treatment to the follow-up.
Results: The mean well-being score on the WHO-5 for the intervention group demonstrated a significant difference across the time (p < 0.001). There were increases from the baseline at both the post intervention (95% CI - 0.811 to - 0.283; p < 0.001) and three-month follow-up (95% CI - 0.763 to - 0.257; p < 0.001). The mean weakness score on the SDQ for the intervention group was significantly decreased at the three-month follow-up (95% CI 0.271 to 1.143; p = 0.002).
Conclusions: The effectiveness of the LSEP-V was verified through this study using a quasi-experimental design on a large sample. It showed a medium-term increase in the well-being among the intervention group compared to the control group.
