Promoting “Hope” and Well-being in Adolescents following Transition to Secondary School

This research examined the effectiveness of a modified 5-week intervention, the “Raising Hope Programme” to enhance hope levels and well-being in Year 7 students following their transition to secondary school. It included a sample of 42 Caucasian students from a community school, 21 of whom participated in the cognitive-behavioural, solution focused intervention and a comparison sample of 21 students who did not take part. The research employed a mixed-method approach to examine changes in students’ levels of hope and well-being immediately post-intervention and several months later. The programme also examined the role that student’s attributions played in being associated with students’ levels of hope and well-being.
Findings indicated that staff rated students as showing significantly lower levels of Total Difficulties Scores after taking part in the Raising Hope Programme, but students’ ratings indicate they continued to experience significantly lower levels of hope than the comparison group. Findings revealed a trend for students’ levels of hope in the entire cohort to improve over time, especially by the follow-up session. There was a significant improvement in students’ pathways scores over time, although this remained significantly lower in the intervention group. Students felt the participation in the intervention had helped them a lot with goal setting and attainment, identifying barriers and strategies to overcome them. There were significant associations over time between students’ levels of hope and subjective well-being, including positive links with levels of happiness, positive affect and life satisfaction. Findings are explained using “Hope Theory”. All students reported that they would recommend participation in the modified “Raising Hope Programme” to peers.