A Survey Of Freshmen’s Mental Health In Health Vocational Colleges And Its Influencing Factors

ObjectiveStudents in vocational colleges are different from other university students. Due to the differences in admission batches and the expansion of the enrollment scale, they don’t have the same good knowledge foundation as those in regular universities. As a result, there is generally a sense of inferiority among them. After entering into the college, they have to adjust themselves to the brand-new environment. It is a challenge for every vocational college student to get used to the realities as soon as possible. It is of great necessity to know the mental health status and personal characteristics of the freshmen, carry out effective mental health education in time, analyze problems and factors so as to take the unhealthy psychological trends under control as early as possible, establish mental health archives, carry out the psychological consultation properly, improve students’ capability of self-adjustment, and promote a coordinated development of moral, scientific and mental strengths.By researching the mental health status of the freshmen in health vocational colleges and analyzing the effecting factors, the purpose of the thesis is to find out main problems and effecting factors and to provide a theoretical basis for the establishment of metal health archives and the adoption of intervening measures.MethodsThe survey is carried out by cluster sampling. A sample of2,210’2010freshmen in Suzhou Health College is taken in a random way. The online evaluation is carried out according to the self-made questionnaires, SCL-90, UPI and EPQ.Results1. The mental health status of the freshmen in health vocational colleges and their personal characteristicsAccording to the results of SCL-90, among the2,121effective students who have taken the test,1,208of them have psychological problems, accounting for60.73%, among whom170have severe problems, accounting for8.02%. The most obvious symptom is OCD, followed by over-sensitivity of interpersonal relations and anxiety. The list also includes depression, bigotry, hostility, fear, psychoticism, somatization and others. Compared to the national norms, there is higher level of scores of9factors, the total average as well as the average of positive items among the health vocational college freshmen. A significant gap between them is shown (P<0.01). The scores of4factors, namely somatizaiton, depression, hostility and bigotry, are lower compared to the university student norms. The gap is statistically significant (P<0.01). The scores of3factors, namely OCD, anxiety and fear, are all higher compared to the university student norms. Also, the gap is statistically significant (P<0.05).According to the UPI results, the three detection rates are20.74,27.86%and51.39%respectively. The following groups show a higher rate compared to their counterparts:girls (than boys), those whose fathers have a job (than those whose fathers do not), those who live a better-off life, those with a family history of a certain disease (than those with no family history of any disease), those who have had a serious disease (than those who do not), those from single-parent families (than those live with parents or do not live with parents), those who do not get along well with their parents (than those who get along well with or are close to their parents), those who live with others before6years old (than those who live with parents or relatives), and those who have experienced misfortunes recently (than those who have not). The differences are all statistically significant (P<0.05). The factors, such as whether they are the only child of the family and their mothers’occupations, do not impose a direct influence on their mental health, and the differences are not statistically significant.According to the EPQ results, there is an obvious difference of boys’scores in the E, P and L scales from the middle school and university student norms (P<0.01):scores in the E and L scales higher and those in the P scale lower; There is also a difference of scores in the E, N, P and L scales compared to the16-19years old norms (P<0.01): scores in the E and L scales much higher and those in the N and P scales lower. The gap between the scores of girls and the respective norms are statistically significant (P<0.01): scores in the E and L scales much higher and those in the N and P scales lower.2. Main factors influencing the mental health of the freshmen in health vocational collegesThere are various factors influencing their mental health:gender, whether they are the only child or not, fathers’ occupations, mothers’occupations, family conditions, the family history of diseases, the history of serious diseases, experiences of growing up, relationships with parents, life before6years old and recent misfortunes in life.3. Problems in the mental health of the freshmen in health vocational collegesProblems in the mental health can be reflected in several aspects including study, life, self-perfection, interpersonal relationships, emotion and economy.4. Reason for the mental health problemsThe survey shows that the mental health level of our college is beneath the average level of the country and there exist various mental health problems. The reasons for the problems include both the heredity factors and physical factors, as well as psychological, environmental and social factors. Some problems are caused by personal and subjective reasons while some are caused by family, school, social and other objective reasons. Some are even caused by heredity factors or accidents in life.ConclusionThere is a high detection rate of the mental health of the freshmen in the health vocational colleges, and there exist various psychological problems. The effecting factors stem from families, schools, as well as social conditions. It takes the coordinated efforts by families, schools and society to solve the problems. Otherwise, the coordinated development of students won’t be achieved. As for colleges, there should be more researches in freshmen’s psychology and the mental health archives should be set up; education on freshmen should be strengthened so as to help them deal with the new situations; there should be guidance for freshmen to help them establish sound interpersonal relationships; more attention should be attached to the students from poor families; there should be multiple channels to carry out mental health consultation. As for the freshmen themselves, they should learn to adjust themselves according to the circumstances, get along well with others and establish sound interpersonal relationships, release their emotions in a reasonable way, and improve the ability of self-control. A prevention mechanism for the mental health crisis of freshmen should also be established through cooperation of various parties.