Fr. Johnson Ponthempilly successfully defends his Doctoral Thesis

Fr. Johnson Ponthempilly successfully defended his doctoral thesis on the topic, “A Study on the Mental Health of Senior Secondary Schools in Kerala in Relation to Spiritual Well-Being and Social Support. He is the 53rd Salesian from the Province of Bangalore to complete Ph.D studies. An extensive literature review was done, which revealed that spirituality and social support reduce mental health issues and support mental health. It is a pioneering study correlating mental health with spirituality and social support of Kerala’s senior secondary school students.
Fr. Johnson focused on answering six research questions on the topic using a mixed method comprising qualitative and quantitative study and analysis. The objectives of the study included analysis of socio demographic profile of the respondents, levels of spiritual well-being, social support and mental health, analysis of the relationship between spiritual well-being and social support, analysis of the relationship between spiritual well-being and mental health and analysis of the relationship between social support and mental health of senior secondary school students in Kerala.
The quantitative analysis was done on a sample of 582 CBSC School students drawn from the population of 6700 students between the age group of 16-18 from 13 schools in the district of Ernakulam and for qualitative data live narrative case studies were conducted. The results of the study showed that there is a potential gender equality among students in Kerala with regard to theme researched. Another finding indicates that 77.84 per cent of students are average in the level of spiritual well-being, social support and mental health. And these students with average and above average did manage their stressful events. The study in conclusion indicated that there is a correlation between the spiritual well-being, social support and mental health.
Fr. Johnson intends to take the study further forward in his future ministry by way of helping and training students, teachers and school managements. He also has plans in helping the people responsible to form policies and preparing a suitable curriculum for the same. We wish all success to Fr. Dr. Johnson Konthempilly.