Evaluating the effect of a psychosocial well-being programme for students at a Tanzanian university
Keywords:
Tanzania, well-being, university students, positive psychology, promotion, programme evaluation.Abstract
This study investigated the efficacy of a new psychosocial well-being promoting programme for university students in Tanzania. Participants were adult university students (N = 82; 42 married and 40 single; 46 female and 36 male) of 19 to 40 years of age with a mean age of 29.5. Four standardised scales i.e., the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF), the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale, the Trait Hope Scale, and The Patient Health Questionnaire: Depression Symptoms (PHQ-9), were administered before and after the programme to determine the effect thereof. Quantitative findings indicated that the programme had a significant positive effect on problem-focused coping, social well-being and hope. Married participants were more effective in suppression of unpleasant emotions in the experimental group than in the control group. Gender-based differences were noted on emotional well-being scores, where an increase in the experimental group is noted with females on areas such as problem-focused coping, suppression of unpleasant emotions, total self-efficacy, and social well-being. The programme was specifically effective on suppressing unpleasant emotions to married participants in the experimental group.ÂReferences
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