ARSH 8: Family life education and counseling: a school based model

To understand the problems of school going adolescents in selected schools in the first phase and to provide class based family life education in the second phase.

Step 1: Identification of the study sample, Step 2: Each adolescent was individually administered TSQ-T by trained project staff , Step 3: 'Family life education' sessions were held for the whole class together, Step 4: Queries were collected on a slip of paper without writing their names, Step 5: Those needing medical attention was seen by a medical doctor and psychologist Step 6: Preparation of a guide book named "101 questions", Step 7: Upscaling the project as a service component to Government schools.

4.6% of school going boys and 2.5% of girls were underweight and 4.4% of boys and 7.8% of girls were obese. Less than 5% of adolescents had symptoms suggestive of various mental health disorders, 2.6-8.3% for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), 3% for eliminating disorder, 0.9-2.2% for conduct disorder, 0.9-3.3% for anxiety disorders, 1.7-4.4% for depression and 0.8-1.1% for psychosis. Adolescent school going girls had a mean age of menarche at 12.7 y and 46% of girls did not receive any prior information about menarche.

Screening of adolescents using TSQ-T developed at CDC, Kerala and used extensively in community projects, was found to be useful in identifying adolescents with nutrition and lifestyle issues, scholastic problems, mental health problems and reproductive health problems.