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Authors: Carmen Bettencourt (Associação Solidaried’arte - Associação de Educação e Integração pela Arte e Desenvolvimento Cultural Social e Local), Leonardo Sousa (Associação Solidaried’arte - Associação de Educação e Integração pela Arte e Desenvolvimento Cultural Social e Local) Natacha Torres da Silva (Instituto Português da Juventude, I.P.), Susana Henriques (Universidade Aberta, CEG)
Background: Socioemotional development strategies are an important way of empowering individuals to choose healthy behaviours. Scientific evidence shows that the earlier socio-emotional learning/management issues are addressed, the better the outcomes.
Methods: The program “Calmly– Learning to Learn Yourself” focuses on the development of children’s socio-emotional skills and positive relationships. It emphasizes self-regulation, communication, adaptability, creative thinking, resilience, and problem-solving. It is considered a universal prevention program. Regarding its effectiveness, it has been indicated in the Xchange prevention registry as “Further studies recommended”. Consequently, the program’s application is subject to evaluation and a monitoring system that ensures data collection to assess its effectiveness.
“Calmly” is being implemented by adequately trained facilitators in 1st Cycle schools (3rd year classes), during a school year, in Ponta Delgada, the largest municipality in the Azores and the one with the most fragilities. The program involves 19 classes, covering 320 children, in a classroom setting, with the presence of the teacher.
Results: “Calmly” was designed according to a specific territorial context and for a determined target audience, having, further, been customized according to developmental stage. Despite the adaptation efforts, weaknesses were detected related to contextual and linguistic specificizes. However, the support materials for the intervention sessions could not be modified due to copyright and funding reasons. It is also worth noting that, due to the high cost of support materials, access had to be reduced for the target audience. The program's implementation is still ongoing. Despite being at this stage (approximately 50% of the intervention), some positive results can already be visible, particularly in terms of identifying basic emotions and using strategies for effective emotional management.
Discussion: Despite having been subject to adaptation and customization for the required age group, the adaptation to the territorial, social and linguistic context did not prove to be the most appropriate. Although the Azores are an integral part of Portuguese territory and share some characteristics, we believe there are unique aspects that must be considered, including the ultraperipheral context.
As a future strategy, we will focus on creating a program that originates in the Azores, but can be adapted to other territorial contexts.
| Conflict of interest | Authors declare no conflicts of interest |
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