Development and Evaluation of a Life Skills Training Program for Children: Its Impact on the Social Adjustment of Primary School Students

Abstract

Introduction: The current generation of children requires more social skills and adaptability in their social environment than ever before. Accordingly, the present study was conducted to design a life skills training package for children and determine its effectiveness on the social adjustment of primary school students.Methods: The research method was qualitative, using theme analysis, and the quantitative part of the research was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design, a control group, and a two-month follow-up period. The statistical population of the research consisted of 12698 primary school students in Shahrekord city in the academic year 2021-2022. A total of 109 students were selected by convenience sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The students in the experimental group received the life skills training package over ten weeks in 10 sessions. The Social Adjustment Questionnaire (SAQ) was used as the measurement tool in this study. The data were analyzed through mixed ANOVA using SPSS23 software.Results: The study showed that the life skills training package has sufficient content validity. Also, this training package significantly impacted the social adjustment of students (P<0001; Eta=0.58; F=149.17). The effect size of the present intervention on social adjustment was 0.58.Conclusion: Based on the findings, the life skills training package, by familiarizing students with their strengths and weaknesses, teaching effective communication skills and empathy, emotion management, problem-solving skills, and creative thinking, can be an efficient method of improving the social adjustment of primary school students.

Keywords

• life skills
• social skills
• social adjustment
• students
• child