Increasing mental health of university students through Life Skills Training (LST)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Life Skills Training (LST) program on mental health of university students. The sample was comprised of 60 (20 boys and 40 girls) undergraduate students who were enrolled at life skills workshop that held on 12 sessions of 2 and half hours in counseling center of university. The design of pretest-posttest without control group was employed. Participants answered to General Health Questionnaire (GHQ, 28 items) before and after they received the LST program. The data were analyzed by t-tests for dependent groups and covariance method. The results showed that there was a significant effectiveness of LST program on mental health of students, and girls received more benefit of the program than boys. According to this study, life skills training can be useful for increasing mental health of university students. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.