Positive affect of insect-mediated mental healthcare program to adolescent`s emotions

Abstract

Several insects have been shown to exert a strong influence positively on peoples` emotions. Insect-mediated mental healthcare program was designed to help meet the physical, behavioral and developmental needs of adolescents. They were provided with an insectmediated mental healthcare program for a total of 10 sessions, one session per wk, at 1 h per session, accompanied by a pre- and post-test for emotion. Significant differences and correlations were found according to the individual participants` planning, subjective quality of life, self-reported depression and self-worth, respectively. The results indicated that adolescents who participated in the insect-mediated healthcare program group once showed significant improvement in their planning, subjective quality of life and self-worth. However, most of all participants` self-reported depression was not influenced. These findings suggest that pet-insects positively affect adolescent`s emotional health via an insect-mediated healthcare program.