Effectiveness of a School-Based Universal Prevention Program for Enhancing Self-Confidence: Considering the Extended Effects Associated with Achievement of the Direct Purposes of the Program

摘要

We have developed a group of universal prevention programs for children’s health and adjustment. The programs are characterized by new theories such as the somatic-marker hypothesis and enjoyable methods that utilize animated stories and games. This study adopted one of the programs, a universal prevention program for the development of self-confidence in third grade children, and examined the effectiveness of the program. Participants were third grade children in six public elementary schools in Japan. Homeroom classes in the schools were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. The final samples were 204 children (98 boys and 106 girls) for the intervention group and 218 children (105 boys and 113 girls) for the control group. The program was implemented weekly in one regular 45-minute class over eight weeks for all homeroom class members. Participants completed a battery of three questionnaires (along with writing tasks that were not reported here) both before and after the intervention. Similar time periods were utilized for the control group. Questionnaires assessed the main purposes of the program (to recognize the values of self and others, recognize one’s psychological needs, behave according to one’s psychological needs, and evaluate positively one’s and others’ behaviors based on psychological needs), measured the adaptive status of children at school, and gauged implicit positive and negative affect. Results indicated that all of the main purposes of the program were achieved in the intervention group compared to the control group. Moreover, the children’s motivation for learning significantly increased with the program. Additionally, compared to the control group, the program significantly enhanced implicit positive affect (but not negative affect) in the intervention group. The necessity of future research that examines the sustainability of the effectiveness of the program is discussed, along with a number of limitations.