Determining the Effectiveness of Training Life Skills on Improving General Health and Assertiveness in Sexually Abused Female Adolescents

 Sexual abuse is one of the most important threats to the health of girls in the world. Life skills are personal and social skills that help teens perform better toward themselves and other people by learning them. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of life skills training on general health and the assertiveness of sexually abused girls.

 This study was an educational trial with a pre-test, a post-test and a follow up with a control group. The statistical population of the study was girls with an experience of sexual harassment in Tehran in the year 2018. A total of 40 people were selected through available sampling and were assigned to each of the experimental (20 subjects) and the control (20 subjects) groups. Data were collected using a general health scale and a dare scale. In the experimental group, life skills training was conducted in a total of nine sessions, with two sessions every week, each session lasting 120 minutes. After finishing the training, both groups received a post-test, and two months later the follow-up was done. Data were analyzed using a two-way repeated measures ANOVA.

 The results of this study showed that life skills training has a significant positive effect on psychological general health (F=3.59, p=0.014 and Eta=0.22) and adolescent girls' sexual abuse (F=4.32. p=0.001 and Eta=0.26). The experimental group has a positive and significant effect on the post-test and follow up stages.

 Life skills training can improve the adolescent girls' juvenile behavior and control the psychological symptoms of sexual abuse. The adjunct individual and family psycho education are recommended to this group of patients besides their routine psychiatric treatments.