Evaluación de la Aplicación Piloto de una Intervención Preventiva de Salud Mental en la Escuela: Variaciones en la Desadaptación Escolar y en la Disfunción Psicosocial Adolescente

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of a pilot preventive mental health workshop on adolescents attending 8 schools in the district of Lo Espejo, located in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile, who participated in the nationwide program “Habilidades para la Vida II” during 2011. The study sought to explore the effects of the application of this 6-month preventive intervention on the adolescents’ school maladjustment (SM) and psychosocial dysfunction (PD) variables. A pre-experimental study with no control group and with pre- and post-intervention measurements was designed. Purposive intensity sampling was used to select 65 adolescents of both sexes attending 7th grade at the time of the intervention. The analysis considered repeated measures ANOVA and t-tests for related samples. The results showed that the intervention reduced the level of the risk factors associated with SM; however, it was not effective in modifying the adolescents’ PD.