In this dissertation, I seek to understand whether and how values affirmation could have an impact on the academic performance and psychological well-being of deaf students in secondary deaf schools in Nepal. In Paper 1, I reported findings from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) on the impact of values affirmation on the academic performance and psychological well-being in school for 269 deaf students from grades six to ten in three secondary special deaf schools in Nepal. Using a Bayesian framework, I found moderate evidence that the students receiving values affirmation had lower perceived stereotype threats, higher self-integrity and sense of belonging in school, and better academic performance, as compared to control students. Contrary to the evidence in past studies, the affirmation effect on academic performance was stronger among students who initially reported facing fewer stereotype threats. This finding suggests that the intervention might not counter severe threats for some students but could help those facing objectively high, yet relatively lower, stereotype threats by providing a psychological nudge. As the first empirical demonstration of values affirmation's effectiveness for a deaf population in a low- and middle-income country, this paper suggests that values affirmation can be a promising supplement to current system-level educational programs aimed at enhancing academic performance and psychological well-being for deaf students in school. In Paper 2, I conducted a deeper examination of the possible mechanisms through which values affirmation impacted students' academic performance, as demonstrated in both Paper 1 and numerous past studies (see Wu et al., 2021). In Paper 2 Study 1, I thematically coded the reflections in the treatment exercises from deaf students and attempted to explore what direct-change and/or indirect-change mechanisms might have contributed to the positive treatment effect found in Paper 1 by qualitatively examining the themes. Next, I also coded the themes in the control exercises due to concerns around negatively-themed reflections that unexpectedly appeared in the control group. These reflections could potentially introduce an unintended negative effect within the control group--a consequence that might be specific to the design and population of the current study. In Paper 2 Study 2, I analyzed the coded themes as predictors of academic performance, controlling for baseline performance and demographic covariates, separately within the treatment and control groups. I found strong evidence that reflections on the themes "Self-awareness and growth in self-identity" and "Relationship with friends" were positively associated with better academic performance for students in the treatment group. This finding suggests that both a direct-change and indirect-change mechanism might be at play for the students in my study. In addition, within the control group, reflecting on negative themes on "Barriers related to deafness and communication" and "Lack of support from friends and family" did "not" yield any negative effects on academic performance, alleviating the concerns around these negatively-themed reflections having a negative impact on students' learning. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]