Social and emotional competence as key element to improve healthy lifestyles in children: A randomized controlled trial

Aim To show the results of an exploratory trial based on social and emotional learning to promote healthy lifestyles in 5–6 aged children. Design A randomized controlled trial. Method The study was conducted from 2015–2016. Thirty‐seven children were allocated to the intervention group (N = 19) and control group (N = 18). A multi‐method and multi‐component evaluation approach was used to capture the preliminary efficacy, acceptability, and feasibility of the programme. Repeat measures ANOVA followed by an ANCOVA tests were applied for the inferential analysis and for qualitative data, a content analysis was used. Results Positive effects on emotional perception and resilience were found in children's intervention group. Children and families showed high programme's acceptability and a wide range of barriers and facilitators were identified during the implementation process. Conclusion Predicted mechanisms to improve healthy lifestyles in children throughout social and emotional competence seem to be supported by some of the study's results. However more research is needed to replicate such results and confirm these mechanisms. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02975544. 目的 展示一项基于社会学习和情绪学习的探索性试验结果,以便于促进5至6岁儿童的健康生活方式。 设计 一项随机对照试验。 方法 于2015‐2016年进行了该研究。分配了37名儿童到干预组(19名)和对照组(18名)。采用多方法和多组分评估方法来获取方案的初步效果、可接受性和可行性。推理分析采用了重复测量方差分析,然后进行协方差分析测试,对于定性数据,采用了含量分析。 结果 在孩童干预组中,在情绪知觉和复原力方面有明显效果。儿童和家庭显示了该方案的高度可接受性,同时在执行过程中也发现了各种不利因素和有利因素。 结论 通过社交能力和情绪能力来改善儿童健康生活方式的预测机制似乎得到了一些研究结果的证实。然而,还需要更多的研究来复制这样的结果并证实这些机制。ClinicalTrials.gov的标识符:NCT02975544。