Health Risks of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression and the Effectiveness of Yoga in Distress Reduction in Adolescents Studying in Schools Located in the Field Practice Area of a Tertiary Care Institution, Kanchipuram. a Randomized Control Trial.

Abstract

Background: The adolescent age group is more prone to depression anxiety stress and other mental health conditions due to the transitional effect of their age group. The present study aims to assess their distress and to determine the impact of yoga on distress reduction compared to lifestyle education.

Methods and materials: The present experimental study was conducted among school-going adolescents from two publicly funded schools of the panchayat in the Southern part of India. A cluster random sampling was done to select the estimated sample size of 300 adolescents. Data were collected by interview method using a self-designed questionnaire. The mental distress was assessed using the DASS-10 questionnaire. Univariate analyses and student t-test analyses were done by Stata 17.

Results: More than one-third of the study participants 110 (36.66%) had distress in baseline data. On univariate analysis, it was found that female gender (p<0.05); father's education below high school level (p<0.001); lower socioeconomic status (p<0.001); joint family (p<0.001); living in urban setup (p<0.001); underweight (p<0.05); addictive status of the father (p<0.001); stressful events in the family (p<0.001); more than one siblings (p<0.001); unsatisfied academic performance (p<0.001) and binge eating (p<0.001) were found to be significantly related to distress among adolescents.  In the pretest, distress was seen in  61 (40.6%) adolescents which was reduced to 39 (26%) in the post-test after the yoga session in the intervention arm. Thus 35.97% decrease in distress was noted in the intervention arm which was significant when compared to a 24.53% distress reduction in the control group.

Conclusion: As yoga intervention substantially reduced the prevalence of distress, it is recommended that yoga be made a compulsory weekly activity in the adolescent's education curriculum alongside conventional physical training classes