International Journal of School and Cognitive Psychology
Open Access

Abstract

Addressing Emotional Difficulties of Primary School Children with the Use of a Primary Intervention Program

Agoritsa P, Chryssafidou E and Maria Z

The paper presents the evaluation study of a psycho-educational 10 week long primary prevention program for children aged 9-12 years, which took place in 11 main stream schools in Greece with 326 participants in total. The program is delivered through classroom based activities (eg narratives and games), which are based on the cognitive behavioral therapy theory (CBT). The rational of the program is promote emotional resilience, believed to be related to better self-regulation of emotions and improved coping skills in stressful situations. The effectiveness of the program is investigate on the basis of its impact on anxiety measured through the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) and on self-esteem measured by the Self Image Profile for children (SIP-C0 Data were collected over a period of one a year and a half school academic year, from a pilot study, with 67 students (32 experimental and 35 control) and from the main study, with 259 students (137 experimental and 122 control) aged 10 years old. We found that self-esteem improved significantly over time, for both the pilot and the main study participants, while the levels of overall anxiety reduced significantly. The successful implementation of the psycho- educational program is presented in terms of its structure and content and its motivation is to adapt to the local, social, cultural and educational context.