Impact of green spaces (GS) on the mental wellbeing of Grade VIII students in Karachi, Pakistan
Date of Award
11-1-2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Education (M. Ed.)
First Supervisor/Advisor
Dr. Fozia Parveen
Department
Institute for Educational Development, Karachi
Abstract
In the urban settings of Pakistan, green spaces (GS) are rapidly reducing and people, especially school going children find it exceedingly difficult to interact with green space. It is widely recognized that GS has a significant role in enhancing the well-being of students. However, there is dearth of literature in terms of the efficacy of GS in enhancing students’ mental well-being in the context of Pakistan, especially in Karachi. Therefore, this quasi-experimental study aims to explore the impact of GS on grade VIII students’ mental well-being in Karachi, the biggest city of Pakistan. In order to measure mental wellbeing, Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) was used. The scale was selected due to simplicity and lower item numbers. The study was conducted in two private schools, school A and school B, that worked under Community Based School System (CBS). A sample size of 24 and 25 (students) was selected for control group (CG) and experimental group (EG) respectively. The CG (M=3.46) performed better than EG (M=3.15) in the pre-test. However, in the post-test EG (M = 3.69) scored slightly higher than CG (M = 3.54). Despite the fact that both the groups did not start with the same baseline (CG had an edge over EG), the difference in the pre-test was not statistically significant. The post-test revealed that EG had an edge but the difference was not statistically significant. The analysis was further extended to see difference in the pre-test and post-test within CG and EG. As expected, the difference in the pre-test and post-test of EG was found to be statistically significant. However, the difference was found statistically insignificant in the case of CG. The findings of this study clearly highlight the importance of giving students exposure to GS for their well-being, which may affect their academic performance. Hence, school leadership are recommended to incorporate GS inside school so that students would have frequent access to them.
Recommended Citation
Ali, W. (2023). Impact of green spaces (GS) on the mental wellbeing of Grade VIII students in Karachi, Pakistan [M. Ed. Dissertation]. Aga Khan University.