Effectiveness of a preschool emotional education programme administered over 3 grades: a cluster randomised controlled trial

Emotional education programmes are universal preventive strategies for health promotion, especially mental health. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of ‘1,2,3, emoció!’: a preschool-based programme designed to improve emotional competence and targeted to 3–5-year-old children in Barcelona during three academic years. Cluster randomised trial, using schools as clusters. The study's population included preschoolers 3-5 years old from Barcelona. Teachers offered the programme during one or three academic years in the intervention groups. We evaluated the emotional competence of each child at the beginning and the end of the academic year with the Emotional Competence Assessment Questionnaire (30–180 scale). We studied the implementation process and analysed the outcomes with nested linear regression models. Considering sociodemographic variables and implementation outcomes, we obtained the individual differences in emotional competence at the end of the school year—segregated by sex—for intervention and comparison groups. 1586 children participated in the study. The emotional competence level increased significantly after one year (4.1 in boys; 5.6 in girls; P