Wellbeing Through Remote Storytelling: A Digital Arts Intervention for Indian Adolescents During Pandemic Isolation
Main Article Content
Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the most significant global health crises of modern times, with wide-ranging impacts on mental health, particularly for adolescents. This study was conducted to find the answer to the question: What is the impact of a remote storytelling intervention delivered through Interactive Voice Response System on the mental well-being of 10th-grade students experiencing stress due to school closures during the pandemic? The intervention aimed to address the psychosocial distress among adolescents in Tamil Nadu caused by school closures and pandemic-related isolation, using an innovative, remote storytelling approach. Over 30 days, the intervention leveraged narrative techniques and guided activities to support mental wellbeing for a sample of 9,728 class 10 students from government and aided schools.
Methods: A quasi-experimental, one-group pretest-posttest design was used, with mental wellbeing evaluated through the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale and in-depth personal interviews.
Results: The intervention resulted in a significant improvement in the mental wellbeing of participants [t (9728) = 4.49, p < 0.01], particularly in areas such as relaxation, social connectedness, and decision-making ability.
Conclusion: The findings highlight the potential of remote storytelling interventions to address mental health challenges during public health crises, offering a scalable and accessible solution for promoting adolescent wellbeing.
Keywords:
Adolescents, Interactive Voice Response System, Mental Wellbeing, Pandemic, Storytelling, COVID-19
Article Details
How to Cite
SANDEPUDI, Shravani et al.
Wellbeing Through Remote Storytelling: A Digital Arts Intervention for Indian Adolescents During Pandemic Isolation.
Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 13, n. 5, may 2025.
ISSN 2375-1924.
Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/6339>. Date accessed: 21 june 2025.
doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v13i5.6339.
Section
Research Articles
The Medical Research Archives grants authors the right to publish and reproduce the unrevised contribution in whole or in part at any time and in any form for any scholarly non-commercial purpose with the condition that all publications of the contribution include a full citation to the journal as published by the Medical Research Archives.
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36. Subramani C, Kadhiravan S. Academic stress and mental health among high school students. Indian J Appl Res. 2017;7(5):404-406.
37. Barnes HL, Olson DH. Parent-adolescent communication and the circumplex model. Child Dev. 1985:438-447.
38. Cotney JL, Banerjee R. Adolescents’ conceptualizations of kindness and its links with well-being: A focus group study. J Soc Pers Relat. 2019;36(2):599-617.
39. Purcell M. The health benefits of journaling. Psych Central. 2006:1-2.
40. Morgado P, Sousa N, Cerqueira JJ. The impact of stress in decision making in the context of uncertainty. J Neurosci Res. 2015;93(6):839-847.
41. Ann Mary R, Marslin G, Franklin G, Sheeba CJ. Test anxiety levels of board exam-going students in Tamil Nadu, India. Biomed Res Int. 2014:1-9.
42. Deb S, Strodl E, Sun H. Academic stress, parental pressure, anxiety and mental health among Indian high school students. Int J Psychol Behav Sci. 2015;5(1):26-34.
43. Liu Y, Yue S, Hu X, et al. Associations between feelings/behaviors during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and depression/anxiety after lockdown in a sample of Chinese children and adolescents. J Affect Disord. 2021:98-103.
44. Zhai Y, Du X. Addressing collegiate mental health amid COVID-19 pandemic. Psychiatry Res. 2020;288.
2. Berk L. Child Development. Boston: Pearson Education; 2013.
3. Pollard CA, Morran MP, Nestor-Kalinoski AL. The COVID-19 pandemic: a global health crisis. Physiol Genomics. 2020:549-557.
4. Gavin B, Lyne J, McNicholas F. Mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic. Ir J Psychol Med. 2020;37(3):156-158.
5. Bruining H, Bartels M, Polderman TJ, Popma A. COVID-19 and child and adolescent psychiatry: an unexpected blessing for part of our population? Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2021;30(7):1139-1140.
6. Grant KE, Compas BE, Stuhlmacher AF, et al. Stressors and child and adolescent psychopathology: moving from markers to mechanisms of risk. Psychol Bull. 2003;129(3):447.
7. Oosterhoff B, Palmer CA, Wilson J, Shook N. Adolescents' motivations to engage in social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic: associations with mental and social health. J Adolesc Health. 2020;67(2):179-185.
8. Duan L, Shao X, Wang Y, et al. An investigation of mental health status of children and adolescents in China during the outbreak of COVID-19. J Affect Disord. 2020;275:112-118.
9. Tee ML, Tee CA, Anlacan JP, et al. Psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. J Affect Disord. 2020:379-391.
10. Chen F, Zheng D, Liu J, et al. Depression and anxiety among adolescents during COVID-19: A cross-sectional study. Brain Behav Immun. 2020;86.
11. Dumas TM, Ellis W, Litt DM. What does adolescent substance use look like during the COVID-19 pandemic? Examining changes in frequency, social contexts, and pandemic-related predictors. J Adolesc Health. 2020;67(3):354-361.
12. Kumar A, Nayar KR, Bhat LD. Debate: COVID‐19 and children in India. Child Adolesc Ment Health. 2020;25(3):165-166.
13. Lee J. Mental health effects of school closures during COVID-19. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2020;4(6):421.
14. Smith L, Jacob L, Yakkundi A, et al. Correlates of symptoms of anxiety and depression and mental wellbeing associated with COVID-19: a cross-sectional study of UK-based respondents. Psychiatry Res. 2020;291.
15. Lal P, Kumar A, Prasad A, et al. COVID-19 pandemic hazard–risk–vulnerability analysis: a framework for an effective Pan-India response. Geocarto Int. 2021:1-12.
16. Ramasubramanian V, Mohandoss AA, Rajendhiran G, et al. Statewide survey of psychological distress among people of Tamil Nadu in the COVID-19 pandemic. Indian J Psychol Med. 2020;42(2):368-373.
17. Anbarasu A, Bhuvaneswari M. COVID-19 pandemic and psychosocial problems in children and adolescents in Vellore-District. Eur J Mol Clin Med. 2020;7(7):334-339.
18. Nath A. Tamil Nadu: Unable to handle stress of online lessons, class 11 student dies by suicide. India Today. March 11, 2021.
19. Agoramoorthy GI. India’s outburst of online classes during COVID-19 impacts the mental health of students. Curr Psychol. 2021.
20. Devarajan S, Mylsamy S, Venkatachalam T, Veerasamy G. Impact of lockdown on sleep wake cycle and psychological wellbeing in South Indian population: A Cross-Sectional and Descriptive Study. Int J Med Sci Nurs Res. 2021:12-16.
21. UNICEF. Children at increased risk of harm online during global COVID-19 pandemic. Published April 15, 2020. https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-increased-risk-harm-online-during-global-covid-19-pandemic
22. Baldwin J, Dudding K. Storytelling in schools. Natl Storytelling Network. 2007:1-43.
23. Esterling BA, L’Abate L, Murray EJ, Pennebaker JW. Empirical foundations for writing in prevention and psychotherapy: Mental and physical health outcomes. Clin Psychol Rev. 1999;19(1):79-96.
24. Gortner EM, Rude SS, Pennebaker JW. Benefits of expressive writing in lowering rumination and depressive symptoms. Behav Ther. 2006;37(3):292-303.
25. Pennebaker JW. Telling stories: The health benefits of narrative. Lit Med. 2000;19(1):3-18.
26. Larkey LK, Hecht M. A model of effects of narrative as culture-centric health promotion. J Health Commun. 2010;15(2):114-135.
27. Tennant R, Hiller L, Fishwick R, et al. The Warwick-Edinburgh mental well-being scale (WEMWBS): development and UK validation. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2007:1-13.
28. Ringdal R, Eilertsen MEB, Bjørnsen HN, Espnes GA, Moksnes UK. Validation of two versions of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale among Norwegian adolescents. Scand J Public Health. 2018;46(7):718-725.
29. McKay MT, Andretta JR. Evidence for the psychometric validity, internal consistency and measurement invariance of Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale scores in Scottish and Irish adolescents. Psychiatry Res. 2017:382-386.
30. UNICEF. Comprehensive Lifeskills Framework. UNICEF India; 2019.
31. Sellakumar GK. Effect of slow-deep breathing exercise to reduce anxiety among adolescent school students in a selected higher secondary school in Coimbatore, India. J Psychol Educ Res. 2015;23(1):54-72.
32. Anand U, Sharma MP. Effectiveness of a mindfulness-based stress reduction program on stress and well-being in adolescents in a school setting. Indian J Posit Psychol. 2014;5(1):17.
33. Jonassen D, Serrano J. Case-based reasoning and instructional design: Using stories to support problem solving. Educ Technol Res Dev. 2002;50(2):65–77.
34. Lyubomirsky S, Kasri F, Zehm K. Dysphoric rumination impairs concentration on academic tasks. Cognit Ther Res. 2003;27(3):309-330.
35. Lyubomirsky S, Tkach C. The consequences of dysphoric rumination. UC Riverside. 2008.
36. Subramani C, Kadhiravan S. Academic stress and mental health among high school students. Indian J Appl Res. 2017;7(5):404-406.
37. Barnes HL, Olson DH. Parent-adolescent communication and the circumplex model. Child Dev. 1985:438-447.
38. Cotney JL, Banerjee R. Adolescents’ conceptualizations of kindness and its links with well-being: A focus group study. J Soc Pers Relat. 2019;36(2):599-617.
39. Purcell M. The health benefits of journaling. Psych Central. 2006:1-2.
40. Morgado P, Sousa N, Cerqueira JJ. The impact of stress in decision making in the context of uncertainty. J Neurosci Res. 2015;93(6):839-847.
41. Ann Mary R, Marslin G, Franklin G, Sheeba CJ. Test anxiety levels of board exam-going students in Tamil Nadu, India. Biomed Res Int. 2014:1-9.
42. Deb S, Strodl E, Sun H. Academic stress, parental pressure, anxiety and mental health among Indian high school students. Int J Psychol Behav Sci. 2015;5(1):26-34.
43. Liu Y, Yue S, Hu X, et al. Associations between feelings/behaviors during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and depression/anxiety after lockdown in a sample of Chinese children and adolescents. J Affect Disord. 2021:98-103.
44. Zhai Y, Du X. Addressing collegiate mental health amid COVID-19 pandemic. Psychiatry Res. 2020;288.