Interactive activity about stress management for young people was held by Innovation Office in Karoliniskes Gymnasium, Vilnius, Lithuania on 3rd April, 2019 under the Erasmus+ School Education Strategic Partnership project “Healthy Minds – Wellbeing at School (HMWS)”. Students have checked what they already know about stress management by interactive game. They have reflected how they understand concept of stress, how stress manifests itself in their life, what strategies they use to cope with stress in daily life. They had opportunity to share their experiences, also where introduced with some tips about stress managements and have tried some practices which could help to cope with daily stress, like exercises of breathing, reflecting with each other about feelings and thoughts, etc.
Also, a survey was conducted in order to identify most important and common issues which are going to be addressed during the project. 30 students (22 of them from Karoliniskes gymnasium, Vilnius, Lithuania) had participated in research: 19 boys, 11 girls, most of them (21 participants) were aged from 14 to 16 years, others (9 participants) from 17 to 21 years old. They were asked if they have experienced it (concrete issue) first hand; know someone who has experienced it; are aware it is an issue in your school; are aware it is an issue in the local community; is not an issue that concerns; also they were asked to choose and rank ten most important issues by numbering them 1 to 10. Results are presented. The results of the study can be seen below.
I have experienced it first hand
76,7% Anxiety
56,7% Lack of confidence
56,7% Family breakdown
53,3% Friendship
53,3% Exam worries
50% Young people’s caring responsibilities
50% Body image – pressures, expectations
36,7% Bullying
33,3% Student finance
30% Current global affairs (e.g. Climate change, equality, conflict, poverty).
26,7% Social media / Online abuse (including cyber bullying
23,3% Discrimination in your country
20% Sexuality
16,7% Suicide
13,3 % alcohol & drug abuse
10% Self-harm
6,7% Gender issues
0% Poverty
I know someone who has experienced it
70 % Bullying
66,7 % Body image – pressures, expectations
66,7 alcohol & drug abuse
60% Exam worries
50% Anxiety
50% % Social media / Online abuse (including cyber bullying
50% % Family breakdown
50% % Friendship
46,7 % Young people’s caring responsibilities
46,7 % Student finance
43,3 % Suicide
36,7 % Lack of confidence
33,3 % Discrimination in your country
30% Current global affairs (e.g. Climate change, equality, conflict, poverty).
30% Self-harm
23,3 % Sexuality
20% Gender issues
16,7 % Poverty
I am aware it is an issue in our school
50 % Bullying
46,7 % alcohol & drug abuse
43,3 % Exam worries
36,7 % Anxiety
33,3 % Body image – pressures, expectations
33,3 % Social media / Online abuse (including cyber bullying
33,3 % Family breakdown
30% % Suicide
26,7 % Lack of confidence
23,3 % Friendship
20 % Student finance
16,7 % Young people’s caring responsibilities
16,7 % Self-harm
16,7 % Current global affairs (e.g. Climate change, equality, conflict, poverty).
13,3 % Discrimination in your country
10 % Sexuality
3,3 % Gender issues
3,3 % Poverty
I am aware it is an issue in my local community
43,3 % Exam worries
40 % Bullying
40 % alcohol & drug abuse
40 % Young people’s caring responsibilities
40 % Current global affairs (e.g. Climate change, equality, conflict, poverty).
36,7 % Anxiety
36,7 % Suicide
36,7 % Social media / Online abuse (including cyber bullying
30 % Body image – pressures, expectations
30 % Student finance
30 % % Family breakdown
30 % Lack of confidence
23,3 % Self-harm
23,3 % Sexuality
20 % Friendship
20 % Discrimination in your country
20 % Poverty
16,7 % Gender issues
Is not an issue that concerns me
43,3 % Discrimination in your country
43,3 % Sexuality
36,7 % Current global affairs (e.g. Climate change, equality, conflict, poverty).
36,7 % Self-harm
36,7 % Gender issues
30 % Student finance
26,7 % Friendship
26,7 % Poverty
20 % Social media / Online abuse (including cyber bullying
20 % Bullying
20 % Exam worries
20 % Suicide
20 % Lack of confidence
16,7 % Body image – pressures, expectations
16,7 % Family breakdown
13,3 % alcohol & drug abuse
13,3 % Anxiety
13,3 % Young people’s caring responsibilities
Top 12: the most important issues (starting from the biggest interest among young people) according students:
1) Body image
2) Social media / Online abuse
3) Friendship
4) Lack of confidence
5) Bullying
6) Anxiety
7) Exam worries
8) Current global affairs (e.g. Climate change, equality)
9) Family breakdown
10) Young people’s caring responsibilities
11) Suicide
12) Alcohol and drug abuse
We can notice that results answers differ about concrete issues according different questions. We can see a tendency that more common or interesting issues that deserve attention are anxiety; body image; bullying; exam worries; social media/ online abuse, friendship; lack of confidence; young people’s caring responsibilities; family breakdown; suicide; alcohol & drug abuse.
At this point the project team is developing, testing and disseminating a modular curriculum, training course, and support materials which are going to be delivered flexibly in a broad range of settings from secondary school to colleges and universities. The course highlights a broad range of issues that our research has highlighted to be problematic for students. Target group – pupils and students aged 13 -21, at Schools, Colleges and Universities.
We invite you to follow the news: https://www.facebook.com/hmwsproject/. More information about the project: http://healthymindsproject.net/
