The effect of mental health education training on students' geography performance

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the effect of mental health education training on students' performance in Geography. In this study, a quasi-experimental research method employing a pre-test and post-test control group design was adopted. Participants in the study were geography majors at a college in Guiyang, Guizhou Province chosen through random sample of freshmen in the same class. The study involved two groups of 15 students -- one group with mental health education training lasting six weeks, and the other group without mental health education training. In this study, the experimental group was trained in mental health education. This included group activities and discussions, case studies, and training in stress management skills. A set of geography test paper was provided to compare the results of geography test between the experimental group and the control group. The students' performance in geography were tested using the geography test. Descriptive statistical analysis included the mean and standard deviation. In the inferential analysis, t-test for independent samples, t-test for correlated samples and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used. The level of significance was set at 0.05 and was used as a criterion for accepting or rejecting the hypotheses. The results of the study are as follows: After the experimental group the Effect of Mental Health Education Training on Students' Geography received mental health education, the test results showed significant changes, which meant that the test changes in the experimental group were significant. The control group did not receive mental health education, and there was no statistical difference in the pretest rand posttest scores of the participants. However, there were significant differences between the mean gain of the control group and the mean gain of the experimental group, which means that mental health education had an impact on students' test results. Taken together, mental health education has a positive impact on students' test results.