Investigation in the Status of psychological Health and Social Sympathy for Students at the Time of Entrance and Graduation (Case Study of Jehad-e-Agriculture Higher Educational Institution, Khorasan Razavi Province)

According to the WHO, providing people with health and pursuing its promotion in the society is a significant duty of governments. Confronting numerous challenges and crisis in the most sensitive growth period of age, students are likely to be mentally or emotionally hurt in the educational environment. Therefore, obtaining mental health for the students plays a pivotal role in educational process. This comparative study was carried out to investigate the rate of psychological health and social sympathy for the students in Khorasan Razavi Jehad-e- Agriculture Higher Educational Institution, at the time of entrance and graduation. The statistical population consisted of some 437 graduates who entered the institution in 20 and graduated in 2009. A descriptive-cross-sectional method was employed to implement the study and the data were gathered using a General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) containing some items regarding general health and social sympathy. Data were statistically described and then analyzed using correlation of variables through determining correlation coefficient, independent t. Test as well as factor analysis. The results indicated that psychological health of students at the time of graduation significantly improved compared to the time of entrance (p 0.01). In addition, assuming equal variance of students at the time of entrance, some factors such as gender, marital status and acceptance quota significantly affected psychological health condition. In this regard, male, married and employed students enjoyed better psychological health condition compared to female, unmarried and unemployed respectively. However, it was not affected by the factors at the time of graduation. It also turned out that there was a significant positive correlation between and social sympathy for students.