Rebel Human study in Doc V's classes - effectiveness on mental health of our students

 This summarizes the study results of the effectiveness of Rebel Human school resources on the mental health of my students, who were juniors and seniors in 3 and 4 Chem/Phys AP Physics classes. The RH resources have been used exclusively at ETHS in Physical Education classes for the last 3 years, for nearly all students in the building, grades 9-12. This is part of an effort to begin exposing and teaching students some critical social-emotional learning (SEL) skills, and SEL is one of the 4 primary goals of ETHS. If it helps, rearrange the letters and let's call this ELS, ESSENTIAL LIFE SKILLS - this is what we're really talking about when you hear or read SEL!! 

We wanted to go outside of PE classes, and do a formal study on RH impact on the mental health of my students. We had enough sections of juniors and seniors to have two control sections and three intervention sections. Despite limited sample sizes and limited time (December 2023 - April 2024) of exposure to the deep breathing methods to help manage stress and one's emotions in a healthy way, we were honestly surprised to find statistically significant results for some of the measures of anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as the use of eustress (the positive use of stress for things like motivation, emotional control, reduction of stress, etc.). Check out a summary of the entire study, including dozens of anonymous positive comments from students in the intervention sections. The more students used and talked about the RH methods and SEL skills, the more they saw the relevance and importance of making use of them in classes, in relationships, in athletics, and generally in life, to help manage stress and their mental health.

Keep in mind that healthy students learn more, show better behavior, get along with each other better, and find more growth, happiness, and success in life. This is the essence of being strong in SEL skills, and is why this is a primary goal of ETHS!