Margarida GASPAR DE MATOS*, Tânia GASPAR,
Mafalda FERREIRA, Gina TOMÉ, Inês CAMACHO, Marta REIS,
Paula MELO, Celeste SIMÕES, Ricardo MACHADO, Lucia RAMIRO,
SOCIAL ADVENTURE TEAM
Technical University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Abstract
School is a privileged setting for universal and selective prevention interventions that can help pupils increase their competence to cope with life challenges in a moderate, non violent and effective way. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effects of an intervention, a social and personal competence promotion program entitled “Find your own style” (SPCPP- FYOS) that was designed by the authors and tailored to the institutional context. FYOS took place within the regular school timetable and was delivered by the regular school teacher. Besides the evaluation sessions prior and after the intervention, the program included 12 sessions where 6 themes were debated, role-played, monitored and generalized through homework. Activities focused on interpersonal communication; self-talk; emotion management and regulation, social capital and interpersonal relationships and management of leisure and work time. Active and participative methods were used. A total of 77 adolescents were included in the program, distributed as follows: 47 from 6th and 7th grades and 30 from the 8th grade. The intervention design included an
evaluation prior and after the intervention, and a parallel “attention group”. This study confirmed that universal prevention programs (like the “attention program” targeting at the whole educational community) are efficient in increasing the perception of happiness and the perception of quality of life in adolescents. However, they are not sufficient in targeting more specific results such as the decrease of disruption, where a more specific and intensive intervention would be necessary.
Keywords: competence, participation, self-regulation, autonomy, empowerment
