Educación Emocional en la Educación para la Salud: Cuestión de Salud Pública

Pedagogy of death within the framework of health education: The need and why teachers and students should be trained in primary education

The objective of the present study is to analyze the perceptions of in-service teachers about Pedagogy of Death within the framework of Health Education (HE), with respect to the training received and their teaching experience. A quantitative method was utilized, with the design of an ad hoc questionnaire with a Likert-type response scale and dichotomous questions. The results showed that while the teachers were aware of the need to educationally address death and health, they lacked or did not have initial or continuous training for doing so, and had not thought about it as a normalized aspect throughout their teaching career. We believe it is necessary to offer more training on Pedagogy of Death in the area of HE at universities and continuous education centers, so that it can ultimately be implemented in Primary Education classrooms.

Effectiveness of school-based emotional education program: a cluster-randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVES

The acquisition of emotional competencies through emotional education programs improves both short- and long-term health outcomes. The 1,2,3,emoció! program directed at children aged 3-5 years aims to promote health through the development of emotional competencies. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the program during its first year of implementation.

STUDY DESIGN

Cluster randomized trial.

METHODS

The information sources were an ad-hoc questionnaire to evaluate emotional competencies and focus group discussions with the teachers implementing the program. For the quantitative data analysis, we compared mean emotional competencies scores pre- and postintervention for the intervention group and the comparison group. We also conducted a multilevel regression with repeated measures, adjusted by sociodemographic variables and stratified by gender and school year. For the qualitative data, we performed a thematic content analysis.

RESULTS

The sample consisted of 2625 children (48.4% girls and 49.2% intervention group). Emotional competencies improved in both groups after the school year (P-value < 0.001), but the increase was greater in the intervention group. The multilevel analysis showed an improvement in the final scores attributed to the intervention, especially for those in the first year of preschool [boys: 12.33 points (95% CI 5.51-19.15), girls: 9.66 points (95% CI 3.36-15.96)]. The thematic content analysis also highlighted enhanced emotional competencies in the intervention group. The final scores did not vary by sociodemographic variables.

CONCLUSIONS

The 1,2,3,emoció! program had a positive effect on emotional competencies among children, with effectivity being higher among younger children.

Impact of the MooN Physical Education Program on the Socio-Emotional Competencies of Preadolescents

Few studies have analyzed emotional educational experiences through physical education interventions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects on socio-emotional competencies of a physical education intervention (i.e., the MooN program) based on the instructional model known as the sports education model (SEM), compared to a physical education intervention based on the traditional model of direct instruction (TM-DI) in preadolescents. The sample consisted of 170 students between 10 and 13 years old (mean age: M = 10.76; standard deviation: SD = 0.73). Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental group (SEM; n = 87) and the active control group (TM-DI; n = 83). In the experimental group, the SEM-based intervention was applied, while in the active control group, an intervention based on the TM-DI was developed. A quasi-experimental design with repeated pre-test and post-test measures and an active control group was used. The self-efficacy inventory for multiple intelligences (IAMI-40) was used to assess the children’s socio-emotional competencies. The child perfectionism inventory was applied to evaluate the self-demand perfectionist efforts. The results confirmed that the MooN program (SEM intervention) promoted significant improvements in socio-emotional competencies. These findings support the potential of this physical education instructional model as an emotional education pathway for the socio-emotional improvement of preadolescent students.

The effects of cooperative learning on trait emotional intelligence and academic achievement of Spanish primary school students

Increasing the students' academic achievement in the international evaluation arena is a challenge for our country, and cooperative learning and emotional intelligence may be a solution for this problem. The link between cooperative learning, emotional intelligence, and academic achievement has been poorly studied so far. The objective of the present investigation was to examine the influence of cooperative learning on trait emotional intelligence and academic achievement. The methodology used was a quasi-experimental design with pre/post-measurements and experimental/control groups. The participants were primary education students (n = 692) and teachers (n = 24) from eight public schools in Madrid, Spain. The instruments used were the Emotional Quotient-Youth Version questionnaire and internal and external assessment tests. Our results indicated that cooperative learning improved scores of one dimension of trait emotional intelligence, change adaptability, and students' academic achievement (Mathematics and Spanish Language). We discussed the possible implications of these outcomes for educational practice.

Breast Cancer and Resilience: The Controversial Role of Perceived Emotional Intelligence

Cancer is a chronic disease that causes the most deaths in the world, being a public health problem nowadays. Even though breast cancer affects the daily lives of patients, many women become resilient after the disease, decreasing the impact of the diagnosis. Based on a positive psychology approach, the concept of co-vitality arises understood as a set of socio-emotional competencies that enhance psychological adaptation. In this sense, emotional intelligence is one of the main protective factors associated with resilience. However, it is not always as beneficial as it seems, and can lead to collateral effects on psychological adjustment. Given this controversy, this study aims to find the specific processes through which the dimensions of Perceived Emotional Intelligence (PEI) (Emotional Attention, Emotional Clarity, and Mood Repair) can act as a risk or protective factor in the development of resilience. The total sample was 167 women (Age: M = 43.26; SD = 12.43), 46.7% were breast cancer survivors, and 53.3% were healthy controls. The selection of women with breast cancer carries out randomly, recruited through the Oncology Units. The sample completed measures of resilience and PEI, through Resilience Scale (Wagnild and Young, 1993) and TMMS-24 (Salovey et al., 1995). The results showed that breast cancer survivors showed higher age and greater levels of resilience and mood repair than healthy women. The mediation analysis revealed that breast cancer survival and PEI predicted 28% of the variance of resilience. The direct effects showed that emotional clarity and mood repair increased resilience levels. Although breast cancer did not predict resilience directly, it does through mood repair by an indirect process. Besides, the analysis showed that emotional attention played a role in vulnerability, decreasing mood repair, and resilience. These research support theories that point to a possible dark side of PEI, thus, a great level of emotional attention makes dark the positive effect of mood repair and personal growth if a clear perception of emotions does not complement it. These results provide empirical support concerning the need to work complementary each dimension of PEI to avoid unwanted effects on intrapersonal adjustment.