The Effect of Psycho-education Program on the Depressive Symptoms Among Nursing Students at Thammasat University

Abstract

This research study was a quasi-experiment with one group designed. The objective of the research
was to study the effect of a psycho-education program on the depressive symptoms among nursing students
at Thammasat University. A group of twenty second-year nursing students that had volunteered and had a
CES-D scores higher than 22, which indicated preliminary depression, were purposively selected based on
the inclusion criteria. The research instruments were following: First were the data-collection instruments,
including general information and the center for the epidemiologic studies depression scale, Thai version
(the screening test for depression in adolescents). Second was the psycho-education program, which was
developed from Anderson’s psycho-education theory and Roger’s theory. This program included six sessions
60 to 90 minutes each. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and repeated measures ANOVA.
Results (1) The results of the research showed that the mean depression scores among the nursing
students on the pre-posttest and after 6 months were 25.90, 20.80, 19.70. (2) The research outcomes showed
that the mean depression scores among the nursing students on the pre-posttest and after 6 months were
significant (p < 0.05). In addition, the mean scores for the CES-D after completing the program were not
significantly different from the 6-month scores after participating in the program.
The study suggests that the psycho-education program reduced the depressive symptoms of the
nursing students and is an alternative way of caring for students.