Improving the Mental Health of Student-Artists Through the Life Skills Intervention Program: An Evaluation Study



Author Information

Maureen Antonette B. Ledesma, De La Salle University, Philippines

Abstract

This paper aims to evaluate the life skills intervention program in terms of improving the mental health of student-artists. In the needs assessment survey conducted, it was revealed that the majority of student-artists are more likely to have severe mental health problems. The life skills modules were developed to address this need through the development of ten important core life skills: self-awareness, empathy, effective communication, interpersonal relationships, critical thinking, creative thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, coping with stress, and coping with emotions; and were compressed into four workshop modules – Heart, Hand, Head, and Health. The researcher consulted the Culture and Arts Office and used her knowledge and understanding of the student-artists to develop the activities and strategies for each module based on their applicability and relevance to the student artists’ needs. After running all modules, a post-test survey called the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) was conducted, which was also utilized as a pre-test survey. Seventeen student-artists who completed all four modules and the pre-test and post-test surveys participated in the evaluation following the Input-Process-Outcomes evaluation framework. The paired t-test results reveal a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of student-artists, which means that the life skills intervention program effectively improved their mental health. This is supported by numerous pieces of literature that claim that life skills programs benefit students' mental health. Following this positive outcome, conducting regular life skills workshops for student-artists as well as other student populations (e.g., athletes, scholars, etc.) is highly recommended.


Paper Information

Conference: ACP2025
Stream: Mental Health

This paper is part of the ACP2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Ledesma M. (2025) Improving the Mental Health of Student-Artists Through the Life Skills Intervention Program: An Evaluation Study ISSN: 2187-4743 – The Asian Conference on Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences 2025 Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 55-65) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2187-4743.2025.5
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2187-4743.2025.5


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