Assessment of Ten Life Skills and General Health Level and Their Relationship in Clients Presenting to Health, Treatment and Counseling Centers

Background and Objectives: Studies investigating life skills and general health have mainly focused on some skills or parts of health. In this study, ten components of skills and three components of general health were examined in patients presenting to veterans’ health and counseling centers in Tehran and the relationship between each skill and multiple levels of general health was assessed.   Methods: this cross-sectional study was performed on 600 randomly selected service users. Data were collected using two standard questionnaires and analyzed using t-test, one-way ANOVA, Tukey post hoc and multivariate regression. Lisrel-8 path analysis and software were used to investigate the causal relationships between variables and the way a skill affected general health.   Results: The highest mean scores of skills were related to emotion management, critical thinking, social support and creative thinking, decision making, stress management, self-awareness, empathy and effective communication and problem solving. The results of path analysis showed a strong link between overall life skills and general health. The effect of skills on social performance was more than other components of health.   Conclusion: The contribution of emotion management, creative thinking, effective communication, and stress management skills to the prediction of general health was more than other life skills. Considering the importance of general health, it is recommended that educational programs be implemented with focus on these population subgroups to improve their skills and general health level.