The me and us of emotions: Preliminary results of a program to promote children’s empathy, compassion and cooperation

Abstract

Given the challenges of the modern world, specifically at schools, and the alarming increase in mental health difficulties in young people, it is crucial to universally foster social and emotional skills in the school context. This study aims to present the development and preliminary results of a program to promote socioemotional skills for children in the 3rd and 4th grade. This program named “The Me and the Us of Emotions” is integrated in the Gulbenkian Academies of Knowledge 2020 and consists of 10 group sessions included in the school curriculum. The specific objectives are to promote the capacity for emotion recognition; to teach emotional self-regulation strategies focused on reassurance and compassion; and to encourage behaviors of social connection and cooperation. Digital technologies (e.g., interactive games) are complementarily used to promote these skills. An experimental design is used, and the efficacy measures address empathy, emotional skills, and cooperation, and emotional climate at classroom, based on a multi-informant perspective (children, parents, and teachers). It is expected that the children show improved emotion regulation skills, as well as increased cooperation, empathy, and compassionate actions towards themselves and others reported by themselves, their parents, and teachers. This will contribute to foster children’s psychological well-being and, more broadly, to developing more positive and compassionate environment at schools.