Effect of psychosocial intervention on quality of life and disability grading of mentally disabled adolescents

Mental disability especially at early stage is amenable to intervention measures. Objective of the study was to assess the effect of psychosocial intervention on Quality of life and Disability grading of mentally disabled adolescents. The study was conducted at 2 special schools namely St. Agnes special school and Sannidhya special school in Mangalore among 103 stu-dents between the age group of 12 to 18 years. The psychosocial intervention was conducted in 8 sessions over a period of 4 months. A pretest and post test was conducted in the 1st session and the 8th session (after the intervention) using Indian Disability Evaluation Assessment Scale (IDEAS) and WHO QOL BREF. Data were analyzed using Percentages, Fried-man test and Paired t test. The study has shown significant decrease in the disability level of self care, interpersonal activity, communication and understanding, work and increase in the quality of life after the intervention compared to baseline. The mean score of all do-mains- physical, psychological, social and environmental have shown a significant difference (P<0.001). But the mean difference was more in the psychological and social domains when compared to the physical and environmental domains. This could be due to the emphasis of the intervention being more on the skills related to psychological and social aspects of everyday life. Psychosocial intervention brings about a decrease in the disability level and in-crease in the quality of life of mentally disabled adolescents.