Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°2, 1092-1098
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.350 1092
CURRENT SITUATION AND COUNTERMEASURES OF MENTAL HEALTH
EDUCATION FOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION MAJORS
Guoqing Zhang*, Yu Peng
Abstract
This paper mainly investigates the current situation of mental health education of college students majoring in physical education. The authors carried out a questionnaire survey on physical education majors in several colleges of China. The respondents assessed their mental health against the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). The survey data were analysed through T-test and stepwise multiple regression on Excel and SPSS11.0. During the analysis, the psychological obstacles of the physical education majors were ranked by their influence on mental health, and the impacts of gender, number of children, physical exercise condition on mental health conditions were examined through comparative analysis. The results show that the common psychological obstacles include employment, study, interpersonal relationship, emotion, love and poverty; the educators of physical education should improve the teaching system by introducing education of values into the teaching system, offer mental health education trainings to the teachers and develop interactive and interesting modes of physical education that benefits the psychological development of students. The research findings provide important references for the reform of physical education in Chinese colleges.
Key words: Sports Major, College Students' Mental Health, Interactive Learning,
Interpersonal, Model Research.
Received: 07-04-19 | Accepted: 18-10-19
INTRODUCTION
A large number of facts and studies have shown that physical exercise is one of the most effective ways to promote the development of mind and body. Because physical education cannot only improve the physical quality of college students, but also have a direct impact on their mental health. College sports in China regard strengthening students' physical fitness and improving improve their mental health as main teaching tasks (Wang & Liu, 2018). Along with the continuous deepening of college physical education reform and more emphasis on college students' mental education, the relationship between college sports and college students' mental health has become more and
Department of Physical Education, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, China.
E-Mail: 12000010@hnist.edu.cn
more recognized. From the perspective of
educational psychology, the overall
development of college students is closely related to their mental health. If students are mentally unhealthy, their moral, intellectual,
and physical are difficult to achieve
comprehensive development. Conversely, the
comprehensive development of morality,
intelligence, and body can effectively promote mental health development. Some scholars have found that the contribution rate of physical education to the mental health of college students reaches 52.15% (Behrens & Dinger, 2005). Therefore, it can be said that there is a close relationship between college sports and the mental health of college students. In order to promote the interaction between college sports and college students' mental health benefits, this study will build a university based on the investigation of psychological health development of college students under the new
GUOQING ZHANG,YU PENG
1093
situation, and the relationship between college students' physical fitness, physical exercise, health knowledge and mental health. It puts forward specific operational strategies of integrating mental health education into college physical education. It provides a basis and reference for deepening the reform of physical education in colleges and improving the efficiency of mental health education.
The 21st century is an era of knowledge economy. Human society will undergo a new technological revolution. People's way of life will also undergo tremendous changes. People living in a fast-paced, competitive and stressful society face various pressures. People's psychological activities have become more and more complicated, and psychological problems have become increasingly serious. Most college students can adapt to their own learning and living environment, as well as cultivate and develop their own psychological abilities. However, in the process of establishing a socialist market economic system, the re-adjustment and distribution of various interests, the breeding and spread of social corruption, the continuous expansion of college enrollment, the continuous reform of charging and distribution system, and the constant changes in teaching methods and management systems. Many college students are confused, anxious, and nervous, causing tremendous psychological pressures. Psychological problems are mainly manifested in the proportion of mental unhealth college students. At present, foreign research shows that about 10%-30% of college students have psychological problems. In
1989, the State Education Commission conducted a sample survey of 126,000 college students nationwide, and found that 20.23% of them have different levels of psychological barriers (Leung, 2017). According to Dr. Wang Dengfeng from Peking University, about 30%-40% of college students have psychological barriers, and 10% of them have more serious psychological disorders. There are also some studies on the mental health of college students, which show that a considerable number of college
students have psychological reactions and
adaptation disorders. Neurosis and mental illness have become the main problems of college students' mental health. Wang Yonghe pointed out in the article The Importance of College Students' Mental Health Education published in the magazine Higher Education Research in recent years that the perverts, homicide, suicide, self-harm, etc. caused by mental illness among college students nationwide have
taken up students’ suspension (Uchida & Uchida, 2017). Some western research data show that about 44% of college students have suicidal thoughts, and 2% of them try to commit suicide. Therefore, the problem of college students' mental health has become one of the main obstacles to the healthy growth of them (Lynch & von Hippel, 2016).
EXPERIMENTAL OBJECTS AND METHODS Research procedure
The research procedure is shown in Figure 1. Firstly, the research direction is determined, and then the literature review is done. After organizing all materials, we can write a these.
Figure 1
.
Research Flow Chart
Determine the research direction
Search literature
Access t o literat ure
Tutor guidance
Expert investigation
Literature review
Identify research methods
Organising mat erials
Determine the purpose of the study
Identify research plans
CURRENT SITUATION AND COUNTERMEASURES OF MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION FOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION MAJORS 1094
Questionnaire method
(1) Psychological symptoms self-rating scale. The psychological symptom self-rating scale (SCL-90) is selected to investigate the mental health of college students. According to the statistical results of the questionnaire, the subjects are divided into normal group, mild group, moderate group and severe group. In recent years, the SCL-90 scale has been widely used in domestic mental health problems investigation and clinical diagnosis with high reliability and validity. The scale has a total of 90 items, each of which is divided into five levels according to severity: 1 = no (no symptoms); 2 = mild (with symptoms, but no actual impact on the examinee; 3=moderate (with symptoms and some influence on the examinee); 4 = quite heavy (with symptoms and a considerable influence on the examinee); 5 = serious (with symptoms and a serious influence on the examinee). It consists of 10 factors,
namely, somatization (B1), coercion (B2),
interpersonal sensitivity (B3), depression (B4), anxiety (B5), hostility (B6), terror (B7), paranoia (B8), psychosis (B9) and others (B10) (Young & Calloway, 2015).
One is high, indicating this mental health problem is serious. On the contrary, mental health problems are not serious. Compared with other scales (SAS, SDS), this scale is large in content and reflects a wide range of symptoms, including feelings, emotions, thoughts, consciousness, behaviors, lifestyle habits, relationships, diet and sleep. The scale can accurately measure the patient's self-conscious symptoms and is widely used to evaluate their own psychological symptoms. According to the results of Derogates et al., the symptom validity coefficient of the scale is between 0. 77-0. 99, P<0.01. Many experts agree that the scale has high reliability and validity (Jin, Chang, & Choi, 2015).
A self-made general situation questionnaire includes school, grade, gender, age, family background, family relationship, learning pressure, employment and postgraduate study, love situation, family economic status, and etc.
(2) Questionnaire validity and reliability test. In order to investigate the scientific nature of results, the validity and reliability of designed questionnaire
are tested. Ten experts (including 5 professors and 5 associate professors) are asked to evaluate the validity of the questionnaire. The design, content and structure of the questionnaire are also comprehensively reviewed. The equivalence index and test results prove that the questionnaire is validity (Table 1). The reliability test uses the same method. The questionnaire is issued to the same subject after 10 days interval. The content is tested for the significance of correlation coefficient. The reliability coefficient is R=0.91 (P<0.01), indicating the questionnaire is credibility.
Sampling method
In order to ensure the sample,
representativeness 10 sports colleges are surveyed with 1200 questionnaires and 1150 questionnaires. The recovery rate is 96.8%, including 1060 valid questionnaires, and the effective rate is 88.9%.
Mathematical Statistics
The obtained raw data is statistically analyzed through Excel and SPSS11.0. The data is analyzed by T test and stepwise multiple regression. In the process of writing the thesis, the comparative research method is used to compare the influence of different factors on the mental health of college students majoring in physical education.
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND ANALYSIS Mental health status of college students majoring in physical education
According to the SCL-90 factor, if there is a factor with a score greater than or equal to 3 points, it is considered that there may be a moderate severity mental health problem. 10 symptom factors are considered to be positive by >2 points. It is believed that 10 symptom factors > 3 points are considered to have moderate psychological disorders. One>2 is psychological disorder or mild psychological disorder. As can be seen from Table 2, the number of students with moderate mental disorders is 63, accounting for 6.03% of the total number. the number of students with mild psychological disorders is 251, accounting for 23.4% of the total number.
Table 1.
Experts' evaluation of the questionnaire validity
Comment content Very perfect More perfect Basic improvement Not perfect Very imperfect
Overall evaluation of questionnaire design 5 5 0 0 0
Overall evaluation of the questionnaire content 5 3 2 0 0
GUOQING ZHANG,YU PENG
1095
Table 2.Mental health status of college students majoring in physical education
Various samples Factor score>3 Factor score> 2 2<factor score <3 1< factor score <2
(number of people) n % n % n % n %
Total (1060) 63 6.0 310 29.3 251 23.4 745 70.4
Male (840) 49 5.8 250 29.7 202 23.8 605 71.3
Female (220) 15 6.4 60 33.0 49 26.6 140 67.3
Only child (173) 6 3.0 43 25.4 39 22.5 130 75.3
Non-only child (887) 58 6.5 267 30.1 212 23.4 615 69.4
Town student (352) 16 4.6 86 24.7 70 20.6 260 75.2
Rural student (718) 47 6.8 224 31.6 181 24.5 485 68.3
Figure 2
.
Mental health status of college
students
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Male student Female Only child Non-only child Town student Rural student
M EN TA L HEA LTH STATU S O F CO LLEGE STU D EN TS
Factor score>3 Factor score> 2 2<factor score <3 1< factor score <2
Figure 3
.
Mental health detection rate of
college student
0 20 40 60 80 Male student
Female
Only child Non-only child
Town student Rural student
M E N TA L H EA LT H D E T EC T I O N R AT E O F CO L L EG E S T U D E N T S
Factor score>3 Factor score> 2 2<factor score <3 1< factor score <2
The proportion of students with physical education who may have different degrees of mental disorder is 29.4%. The number of boys with moderate mental disorders is 49 people, accounting for 5.8% of the total number of boys. 202 people are with mild mental disorders, accounting for 23.8% of the total number of boys. Girls detection rate is higher than boys, 15 people (6.4%) and 49 people (26.6%). The number of only children with moderate psychological disabilities is 6 persons, accounting for 3.0% of the total number. 39 persons are with mild psychological disorders, accounting for 22.4% of the total number of only children. The detection rate of female psychological disorder is higher than that of the only child, with 58 (6.5%) and 212 (23.4%)
respectively. There are 16 (4.6%) college students with moderate mental disorders from urban areas, and 70 (20.6%) with mild mental disorders. Students from rural areas are better than urban students.
From Figure 2, the girls’ detection rate of
psychological barriers is higher than boys, and non-only child is higher than non-only child, and rural area is higher than town (Figure 3).
Ranking of different psychological obstacles of college students majoring in physical education
According to the SCL-90 factor, if there is a factor with a score greater than or equal to 3 points, it is considered that there may be moderate mental health problems. It can be seen from Table 3 that the rate of detection of each factor >3 points is ranked. In this survey, moderate mental health problems of college students are caused by forced (1.96%), hostility (1.96%), interpersonal relationship (1.68%), paranoia (1.56%), terror (1.50%), depression (1.30%), and others (1.20%).
Table 3. Ranking of Different Psychological Obstacles
Factors Factor score>3 2<factor score <3
n % n %
Forced 20 1.96 190 17.9
Hostile 20 1.96 145 13.6
Interpersonal
relationship 18 1.68 136 12.9
Paranoia 17 1.56 130 12.1
Terror 15 1.50 125 11.7
Depression 14 1.30 97 9.1
Other 13 1.20 86 8.1
Gender and mental health
It can be seen from Table 4 that there are differences in mental health status between male and female students in physical education majors. The total scores and symptom factors of female SCL-90 test are higher than male students. Level, and the five factors of coercion, depression (P <0.01), interpersonal relationship, anxiety and horror (P < 0.05) were significant.
CURRENT SITUATION AND COUNTERMEASURES OF MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION FOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION MAJORS 1096
Table 4.
Gender differences in mental health of college students majoring in physical education
Male Female T p
Forced 1.45±0.46 1.67±0.49 1. 85 0. 064
Hostile 1. 55±0. 46 1. 67±0. 49 3. 09 0. 002
Interpersonal relationship 1. 40±0. 46 1. 50±0. 46 2. 74 0. 006
Paranoia 1. 34±0. 41 1. 43±0. 48 2. 49 0. 013
Terror 1. 42±0. 50 1. 47±0. 49 1. 21 0. 226
Depression 1. 30±0. 42 1. 38±0. 47 2. 44 0. 015
Other 1. 42±0. 49 1. 47±0. 46 1. 38 0. 168
Table 5.
Comparison of single-child and non-only-child students in sports
Only child Non-only child T p
Forced 1. 32±0. 38 1. 36±0. 41 1. 35 0. 166
Hostile 1. 41±0. 42 1. 61±0. 48 3.31 0. 000
Interpersonal relationship 1. 36±0. 42 1. 47±0. 47 2. 35 0. 001
Paranoia 1. 35±0. 41 1. 44±0. 47 2.23 0. 017
Terror 1. 29±0. 37 1. 37±0. 43 1. 57 0. 014
Depression 1. 35±0. 43 1. 45±0. 51 2. 14 0. 025
Other 1. 25±0. 37 1. 32±0. 44 1.77 0. 052
Mental health of only-child and non-only-child students
The only child students were born in the late 1980s. The proportion of the only children in college students has been at its peak. The mental health status of the only child students has been widely concerned. It can be seen from Table 5 that 174 students of the only one-child students in the sports majors are lower than the non-only-child students in the sports majors, indicating that their mental health status is better than that of non-only-child
students, and forced protection<0.001,
interpersonal relationship protection<0.01, depression, anxiety and hostility protection <0.05. From Figure 4, the hostile is highest among single-child and non-only-single-child students. The difference in five symptom factors is significant. The SCL-90 test scores and total scores of non-only child students are higher than that of only children and the difference is significant (p<0.01).
Figure 4
.
Comparison of Single-child and
Non-only-child Students
1.32 1.41 1.36 1.35 1.29 1.35 1.25
1.36 1.61 1.47 1.44 1.37
1.45 1.32
F O R C E D H O S T I L E I N T E R P E R S O N A L R E L A T I O N S H I P P A R A N O I A T E R R O R D E P R E S S I O N O T H E R
CO M PA R IS O N O F S IN GLE-CH ILD A N D N O N -O N LY -CH ILD STU D EN TS
Only child Non-only child
Mental health status of college students under different physical exercise conditions
Figure 5
.
Physical exercise factor with
mental health status
P hysical exercise
P sychological stress B ehavioral
stress E m otional
stress C ognitive stress
M ental health 0.109
0.018 0.088
0.108
0.176
0.141
0.225
0.143
From the perspective of psychology, there are four main positive effects of physical exercise on college students' psychology. Firstly, physical exercise can contribute to the development of non-cognitive factors, which can enhance people's self-confidence, responsibility, honor and collectivism. Cultivating personality qualities such as persistence, decisiveness, self-control, independence, etc., makes people cheerful, optimistic, emotionally excited, full of life, enhancing self-understanding and establishing an attitude of accepting oneself. Secondly, physical exercise can reduce psychological stress. In physical exercise, you can use self-venting, compensatory migration and other methods to reduce or migrate bad emotions. Thirdly, physical
GUOQING ZHANG,YU PENG
1097
exercise helps to establish good interpersonal relations. Fourthly, physical exercise can produce a sense of fullness and satisfaction. A variety of extracurricular sports activities can enable college students to increase their knowledge, develop their talents, and create a sense of fulfillment. In addition, because physical exercise has its own unique content and form of activities, participants often get happiness, joy, and satisfaction, eliminating tension, honing people's character, exercising people's will, and improving people's mental health which are shown in Figure 5.
STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE COLLEGE STUDENTS' MENTAL HEALTH
Incorporate the "World View", "Life Outlook" and "Values" into the sports professional teaching system
The university stage is a key period for the formation of world outlook, outlook on life and values. Then social practice and second classroom activities are carried out to truly establish a correct world outlook, outlook on life and values. In combination with the characteristics of physical education in colleges and universities, it is necessary to improve and establish a consulting organization. School psychological counseling is an important way to improve college students' mental health, prevent mental illness and improve their psychological quality. The specific approach is to set up a psychological counseling center or outpatient clinic, to open a psychological counseling phone or psychological counseling website, to conduct a new mental health questionnaire survey, to establish a
psychological file for each student with
psychological problems, to regularly conduct psychological counseling and to record treatment status.
Cognitive education for college students majoring in sports
Faced with the same problem, people with different cognitive structures will have different reactions. Most of emotional distress and psychological problems of people are derived from the unscientific and unreasonable cognition. Students should be given the necessary cognitive education to master methods of eliminating psychological barriers and relieving psychological stress, so as to maintain mental health. The current physical education is reformed. Integrating health education into physical education, students can understand the basic knowledge of physical health
and mental health, as well as the means and methods of exercising. Teachers should update their teaching methods, pay attention to the quality of teaching and the art of teaching.
Conduct education on love and guide students to establish correct values of love
The correctness of students' love concept directly affects the formation of marriage and family in the future. Colleges and universities should change the attitude of college students' love that "don't care if they don't have big problems", and put students' love value education and sex education into students' health education curriculum, so that students can correctly understand love. The role of physical exercise in promoting mental health is emphasize. More and more scientific research has proved that physical exercise promotes mental health, especially to reduce anxiety and depression, to strengthen interpersonal communication and solidarity, and to cultivate people's strong will.
Cultivate a healthy, complete and harmonious personality of sports majors
Personality in psychology refers to the sum of relatively stable and uniquely inclined psychological characteristics of individuals. The personality structure includes temperament, personality, ability, interest, demand, motivation, values, beliefs, and outlook on life. It should help sports majors to eliminate various contradictions and conflicts between personality elements and individuals. Personality elements such as needs, aspirations, goals, beliefs, outlook on life, and actions are unified to form a sound, complete, and harmonious personality structure (Hutchinson & Sherman, 2014).
Figure 6
.
Combination of school education
and mental health education
M onitor
C
o
lle
g
e
m
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t
S tudent developm en t departm ent
Q uality activity
C ounseling C risis
intervention
C ollege counseling station M edical institution
CURRENT SITUATION AND COUNTERMEASURES OF MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION FOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION MAJORS 1098
Schools should educate students about mental health and create a good learning, living and exercising environment. Parents should provide children with a healthy environment, and they must pay attention to their mental health from an early age (Anwer, Alghadir, Shaphe et al., 2015). As shown in Figure 6, physical education majors must master the basic knowledge of psychology and mental health care methods, as well as combine three aspects to promote and improve the mental health of college students.
CONCLUSIONS
There is a same trend between the mental health of college students and their physique. That is to say, with the aggravation of psychological barriers, the physical fitness of college students is gradually decreasing. College students' physical exercise attitudes, behaviors and their mental health levels have a high correlation. Among them, three dimensions of physical exercise attitude, secondary exercise time and exercise persistence play a major role. There is a significant positive correlation between the health knowledge and health evaluation of college students. The more the health knowledge, the higher their self-evaluation.
The construction of interactive mode of college sports and college students' mental health benefits should focus on the construction of three major systems: organizational leadership system, teacher team construction and interactive operation system. Firstly, the school sets up a leading group for mental health education for college students, and implements the unified leadership of the party and government. It also sets up a mental health education center for college students to guide the development and implementation of mental health education and counseling for college students. In terms of quality, we will strengthen the construction of the teaching staff. At the same time, we will find an effective combination of physical education and mental health in colleges and universities, and carry out mental health education in all aspects. The interactive operation strategies to promote the effectiveness of college physical education and college students' mental health education include in the aspect of interactive teaching strategies, college sports and mental health education should pay attention to organic interaction, moderate interaction and flexible interaction and in the choice of teaching content and methods, the focus is on
health recognition. Knowledge education,
psychological learning education, and emotional education will provide quality education, good personality education, interpersonal relationship guidance, competition awareness and cooperation spirit training, etc.
REFERENCES
Anwer, S., Alghadir, A., Shaphe, M. A., & Anwar D. (2015). Effects of exercise on spinal deformities and quality of life in patients with adolescent
idiopathic scoliosis. Biomed Research
International, (4), 1-15.
Behrens, T. K., & Dinger, M. K. (2005). Ambulatory Physical activity patterns of college students.
American Journal of Health Education, 36(4),
221-227.
Hutchinson, J. C., & Sherman, T. (2014). The relationship between exercise intensity and preferred music intensity. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 3(3), 191-202.
Jin, Y. C., Chang, A. K., & Choi, E. J. (2015). Sex differences in social cognitive factors and physical activity in Korean college students.
Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 27(6), 1659-1664.
Leung, C. H. (2017). University support, adjustment, and mental health in tertiary education students in Hongkong. Asia Pacific Education Review, 18(1), 115-122.
Lynch, J. L., & von Hippel, P. T. (2016). An education gradient in health, a health gradient in education, or a confounded gradient in both. Social Science & Medicine, 154, 18-27.
Uchida, C., & Uchida, M. (2017). Characteristics and risk factors for suicide and deaths among college students: A 23-year serial prevalence study of data from 8.2 million Japanese college students.
The Journal of clinical psychiatry, 78(4), e404-e412.
Wang, H., & Liu, X. (2018). Psychological problems and countermeasures of boarding students in
rural primary schools——Based on the
investigation of county in Shaanxi Province.
Asian Agricultural Research, 10(7), 91-100. Young, C. C., & Calloway, S. J. (2015). Transition
planning for the college bound adolescent with a mental health disorder. Journal of pediatric nursing, 30(5), e173-e182.
