Measuring life skills of adolescents in a secondary school of Kathmandu: an experience.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to develop a scale to measure life skills and to assess the levels of life skills in adolescents of a secondary school at Kathmandu. METHODOLOGY A descriptive, cross sectional survey of adolescents from class VIII, IX, and X of a public co-educational secondary school of Kathmandu was done with the help of self-administered questionnaires prepared in English and translated into Nepali. Focus Group Discussions consisting of boys only, girls only and a mixed group comprising of one student from each section of each class were conducted to confirm the results of the study. All the data obtained from the questionnaire survey were edited, coded and entered into EPI info Version 6. RESULTS A total of 347 adolescents participating in the study. 176 adolescents (51%) had life skill scores above the mean, and was termed as having "high level" of life skills and 171 (49%), had "low level" of life skills scores. Mother's education was significantly associated with increased level of life skills in adolescents P=.001). CONCLUSIONS Most of the teachers were not aware of the concept of life skills. Maternal education was significantly associated with higher life skill levels in adolescents. Connectedness and family support were other important factors influencing the level of life skills in the adolescents.