Habilidades de vida: implementação e avaliação de uma pesquisa-intervenção com adolescentes em situação de vulnerabilidade social

Abstract

The development of emotional, cognitive and social abilities is a consequence of positive development, shaping them into protective factors considering situations of vulnerability. That is where The Life Skills Project is located, a model based on evidences from international literature, including self-consciousness abilities, critical and creative thought, handling of emotions and stress, decision-making, problemsolving, efficient communication, empathy and interpersonal relationship. It is scarse in national literature studies that evaluate in an objective form this program. Thus, this paper aims to implement and assess the effects of an intervention based on life skills among adolescents living in a situation of social vulnerability. Specifically, direct effects on particular social skills were assessed, namely: Affective Approach, Self- Control, Empathy and Assertiveness. Furthermore, the forebode effect on the Subjective Well-Being was also evaluated. Consecutively, the relevance of the program in everyday life was assessed in a segment research, six months after the intervention. Thirtythree male adolescents of an average age of 12,8 years participated. All of them were regulars at a philanthropic institute in Juiz de Fora (MG) city. The study with quasiexperimental design counted on pre- and post-evaluation, in which the adolescents were divided into two groups: 1) IG, intervention group with 18 participants; 2) CG, comparison group with 15 participants. After some ethical procedures, the pre-test started by means of application of the Social Skills Inventory for Adolescents and the Subjective Well-Being Scale. Then the implementation of the program in the IG was held and it consisted of 12 meetings of 60 minutes each, covering a total of 24 hours of intervention with the use of group activities, experiences and games along with unsystematic observations registered in a diary. Concluding the program, the post-test in the CG was held through the use of the same tools and implementation strategies exploited with the IG. It was applied a semi-open questionnaire during the segment research. The data obtained were charted and analyzed. The results indicated direct beneficial effects from the intervention on social abilities and civility and indirect ones on positive affection, an indicator of well-being. Considering the segment research, it was found that the adolescents acquired knowledge and positive attitudes needed to social interactions, with the prevalence of Life Skills mentioned as the most practiced, such as interpersonal relationship, effective communication, ability to take decisions, empathy and creative thought. The results reinforces the relevance of proactive programs implementation through the creation of strategies able to benefit some aspects of psycho-social development of young people, promote the positive affect and encourage protective factors, such as life skills when they are facing adverse situations. It was concluded that the development of new studies of intervention in national context id needed.