[Resilient Children: Evaluation of a Programme to Promote Resilience in Kindergarten and Elementary School]. / Resiliente Kinder: Evaluation eines Programms zur Förderung der Resilienz in der Elementar- und Primarpädagogik.

In the project "Resilient Children", a resilience promotion program for kindergartens and elementary schools was directly applied and evaluated during the COVID-19-crisis.The aim of the study was to strengthen the three sources of resilience according to Grotberg (1995) I HAVE, I AM and I CAN through targeted exercises and resilience-promoting communication (transfer to everyday life). Additionally, gender differences with regard to the effect of the programme were addressed. "Resilient Children" was evaluated at the impact level (pre-post design) and process level. Eight kindergartens and three elementary schools with 125 children participated. A total of 122 teachers and 70 parents provided information about the children. The results at the impact level showed that from the parent and teacher perspective, and from the self-perspective (children), the three sources of resilience were significantly strengthened. With regard to gender differences, the results from the perspective of teachers and parents showed that girls were characterised by greater changes than boys. Compared to the girls, the physical andmental well-being of the boys improved fromthe parents' point of view. The results of the process evaluation revealed a high level of motivation and enthusiasm for participation in the programme on the part of participating children and teachers. The success of "Resilient Children" depends on the identification of the teachers with the program.

Low Treatment Fidelity as an Indication to Switch Interventions: Pivoting From Child-Parent Psychotherapy to Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Early Childhood Trauma

Young children who experience trauma and adverse experiences are at an increased risk of developing an insecure attachment style as well as negative physical and mental health problems. These can include internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems, developmental delay, emotional dysregulation, and aggression. Several evidence-based interventions exist to treat young children with symptoms related to trauma, each with different foundational theories. This article presents the case of a 4-year-old boy with posttraumatic stress disorder who was in the middle of a legal fight between caregivers and transitioning between caregivers' homes. Initially, therapy began with Child-Parent Psychotherapy to address caregivers' first concerns. Later, the therapeutical approach was switched to Parent-Child Interaction Therapy due to difficulty with treatment fidelity related to caregivers' symptoms and conflict. This case demonstrates great improvement in treatment fidelity and subsequently problem behaviors after switching to an intervention that allowed to address behavior management shortcomings in a family with ongoing conflict.Copyright © The Author(s) 2022.

The Role of Emotional Skills (Competence) and Coping Strategies in Adolescent Depression.

Depression is a state of low mood that can lead to several negative outcomes on thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and even physical state. With that in mind, it is important to detect individuals at risk of developing depressive symptoms early and identify protective factors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents emerged as one of the most vulnerable groups, with deteriorated anxiety and depression due to imposed social isolation, reduced social activities, and concerns over household status, health, and peer support. Distance learning through public service broadcasts and online tools lasted for several months, posing the need for adjustment. This study aimed to assess emotional competence and coping styles as predictors of depression in a sample of adolescents. The study was conducted in-person on a sample of 142 high school students. A high percentage of participants reported above-average levels of depression (21.1% severely depressed). On average, girls reported higher levels of depression than boys (t = 3.86, p < 0.01). Gender differences were also found in emotion-focused coping and avoidance, with girls scoring higher on both (p < 0.05). However, there were no gender differences in problem-focused coping or emotional competence. Hierarchical regression analysis concluded that perceiving and understanding emotions, expressing and naming emotions, regulating emotions, and avoidance were significant predictors of depression. This regression model explained 53% of depression variance, with the regulation of emotions being the most powerful predictor (p < 0.01). No mediating effect of coping styles on the relationship between emotional competence and depression was found in this study.

Risk and resilience correlates of reading among adolescents with language-based learning disabilities during COVID-19.

Students with language-based learning disabilities (LBLD) can face elevated socio-emotional well-being challenges in addition to literacy challenges. We examined the prevalence of risk and resilience factors among adolescents with LBLD (N = 93), ages 16-18, and the association with reading performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected at the start and end of the first fully remote academic year of COVID-19 (2020-2021). Participants completed standardized word and text reading measures, as well as self-report surveys of executive functions (EF), and socio-emotional skills associated with resilience (grit, growth mindset, self-management, self-efficacy, and social awareness) or risk (anxiety, depression, COVID-19 related PTSD, and perceived COVID-19 impact). Survey data at the start of the school year (Time 1) captured three underlying factors associated with socioemotional risk, socioemotional resilience, and regulation (i.e., EF). Path analyses revealed that students' Time 2 oral reading scores were significantly and uniquely predicted by socioemotional resilience, even when controlling for word-level reading at Time 1. Socioemotional risk, EF, and perceived COVID-19 impact were not directly related to Time 2 oral reading scores; however, students' resilience mediated the associations between risk and reading outcomes. These results demonstrate that adolescents' mental health concerns, self-regulatory ability, and socioemotional resilience were all associated with their experiences of the COVID-19-related stress. However, despite the high-risk context of the pandemic, and socio-emotional challenges faced by students with LBLD, our findings indicate that resilience directly predicts end-of-year reading outcomes and mediates the impact of socioemotional risk on achievement. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11145-022-10361-8.

Relational Competence, School Adjustment and Emotional Skills: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Group of Junior and High School Students of the Sicilian Hinterland.

Research has demonstrated the influence of emotional adjustment on the manifestation of problematic behaviors in adolescence, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the present research is to investigate the role of self-esteem and relational skills on school performance in a group of middle and high school students during the COVID-19 period. The research involved 392 students, aged between 11 and 20 (M = 13.78; S.D. = 2.56). Participants completed the following instruments: an anamnestic constructed ad hoc questionnaire; the Interpersonal Relationships Test, in order to evaluate the perception of adolescents concerning the quality of their relationships in social, family and school contexts; and the Multidimensional Test of Self-Esteem, structured in six scales, which coincide with the dimensions considered constitutive of self-esteem. The preliminary data have shown how the older girls, attending the high school, tend to manifest a higher level of social competence with peer group and teachers. Furthermore, the perception of a reduced emotional self-efficacy but an elevated environmental control and good interpersonal skills seem to predict the school adjustment. Understanding adolescents' perceptions of difficulties and their social support networks can offer some insight into how major social changes can be associated with individual well-being, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Harnessing Community Resources to Enhance Student Learning and Development

One of the most important ways in which school social workers can support students, families, and staff is by acquiring, developing, and distributing community resources. This chapter will discuss identifying needs, assembling resources, empowering students and families to access resources, and building staff and program capacity to meet community needs. Discussion will focus on needs assessments during the overlapping pandemics of COVID-19 and racial inequities. Strategies for conducting needs assessments, mapping assets, and investigating potential community partners are offered. Finally, the chapter covers the importance of collecting and reporting data to evaluate the success of the programs that the school social worker develops. © Oxford University Press 2022. All rights reserved.

Education in Sensitive Times: Contributions of Moral and Socioemotional Skills in the Context of the Pandemic and Post Covid-19

This essay aims to reflect on the contributions for education of the moral and socio-emotional competences in sensitive times, triggered in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on theoretical studies that support the emergence of moral and socioemotional competences, we propose connections that underpin the moral perspective of an educational praxis that offers possibilities to live and interact in school and in society, in an ethical and democratic way. We analyzed that the advent of the pandemic, with the sudden adaptation to the remote scenario, increased the sensitivity and, at the same time, caused an impact on the educational process, by excluding the possibilities of living with diversity, in interaction with others and in the experience of the public space. These experiences are fundamental aspects for the construction of values and the development of socio-emotional competences that are even more urgent nowadays.

Covid-19 pandemic: Attachment, anxiety, emotions regulation and coping strategies among school-aged children

Introduction: An impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emotions and behaviors of children has been found in several studies. However, this impact is not found in all studies. Attachment could be linked to different reactions and levels of anxiety. Objective: The main aim of this study was to analyze the links between children's insecure attachment and variables related to anxiety, emotional and behavioral management of children during the pandemic. Method: Study participants (n = 83 parents and their child aged 6 to 12) completed anonymously online questionnaires assessing attachment insecurity, state-anxiety, coping strategies and emotional regulation. They also answered socio-demographic questions related to their context of life and experience of the pandemic. Results: State-anxiety is significantly related to children's emotional dysregulation but not to emotion-oriented coping strategy. Significant links were observed between attachment insecurity on the one hand, and children's state-anxiety, emotion-oriented coping strategy and children's emotional dysregulation on the other hand. Emotional dysregulation mediates the link between disorganized attachment and state anxiety. Conclusion: The links between attachment insecurity and children's state-anxiety on the one hand, and the emotion-oriented coping strategy on the other hand highlight the importance of taking individual and interactional factors into account in children's socio-emotional manifestations during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022 Société Française de Psychologie

Socio-emotional skills in times of COVID-19. Thinking about teaching from the experience perceived by engineering graduates

This paper describe the perceived experience of receiving in times of pandemic of a group of graduates of the Faculty of Engineering of the National University of Rio Cuarto (Argentina) during the year 2020. Thus, the competencies that the study participants value as key to insertion and professional development in times of economic, social and health crisis are identified. The data were collected through biographical interviews. Based on the findings obtained, lines of action related to the design of academic tasks are proposed as opportunities to develop socio-emotional skills.

Creating an inclusive community in your school through Barrier-Free Theatre

The COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns that academic skills would wither away during the lockdown and with it, social-emotional skills. This is assumed to be as true for neurotypical students as for neurodiverse ones. When students return to their schools, how will they function again in their social environment? The key to addressing the transition back to the “new normal” is the arts, which encompass the whole child: cognition, emotions, social, and physical aspects. This article highlights how creating Barrier-Free Theater programs that include drama, music, dance, art, and creative writing could help all students regain the academic progress they have lost, and with the support of creative arts therapists, could lead to the blossoming of a welcoming and inclusive school community in which everyone, regardless of difference, is valued for their innate creativity and human spirit. Barrier-Free Theater can be integrated in classroom curricula, after-school programs, or with community-school partnerships. Creative arts therapists approach students from a strengths-based perspective. We share processes and strategies to incorporate Barrier-Free Theater, where participants are provided the opportunity to make choices, be respected, and learn through solving problems together. This holistic group process allows the arts to heal trauma and disconnection, while enhancing executive functioning and social-emotional connections. © 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Back to normal? psychological analysis of the return to classes in post-pandemic COVID-19

The pandemic has had a huge impact on the mental health of the population, manifesting symptoms of anxiety, depression, panic, anguish, fear and reaction to stress. The educational field has been mostly affected, both by the changes produced in online classes and by the return to face-to-face classes, which has generated adaptation difficulties for teachers, students and parents. It is argued that the pandemic has affected the development of socio-emotional skills, generating a gap, which has affected aggressive behavior, lack of empathy, anxiety, depressive symptoms, conflict resolution difficulties, impulse regulation, and episodes of violence. school in the child and adolescent population. It is argued that the development of the brain in the child and adolescent population has been affected, both by confinement, psychosocial vulnerability and by increased exposure to the Internet and social networks. Finally, the challenges that the educational system must face to overcome this situation are addressed, which must include all the actors, projects or programs linked to culture, safety and promotion of school mental health.

Pandémie de COVID-19: attachement, anxiété, régulation émotionnelle et stratégies de coping chez les enfants d’âge scolaire

Résumé Introduction : Un impact de la pandémie de COVID-19 sur les émotions et comportements des enfants a été retrouvé dans plusieurs études. Cependant, cet impact n’a pas été retrouvé dans toutes les études. L’attachement pourrait être lié à des réactions et des niveaux d’anxiété différents. Objectif : L’objectif principal de cette étude était d’analyser les liens entre l’attachement insécure des enfants et les variables liées à l’anxiété et à la gestion émotionnelle et comportementale des enfants pendant la pandémie. Méthode : Les participants de l’étude (n=83 parents et leur enfant âgé de 6 à 12 ans) ont complété de façon anonyme des questionnaires en ligne évaluant l’insécurité d’attachement, l’anxiété-état, les stratégies de coping et la régulation émotionnelle. Ils ont également répondu à des questions socio-démographiques et liées à leur contexte de vie et vécu de la pandémie. Résultats : L’anxiété-état est liée de façon significative à la dysrégulation émotionnelle des enfants mais pas à la stratégie de coping tourné vers l’émotion. Des liens significatifs ont été observés entre l’insécurité d’attachement d’une part, et l’anxiété-état des enfants, la stratégie de coping tourné vers l’émotion et la dysrégulation émotionnelle des enfants d’autre part. La dysrégulation émotionnelle médiatiserait le lien entre attachement désorganisé et anxiété-état. Conclusion : Les liens entre l’insécurité d’attachement et l’anxiété-état des enfants d’une part, et à la stratégie de coping tourné vers l’émotion d’autre part montrent l’importance de prendre en compte les facteurs individuels et interactionnels dans les manifestations socio-émotionnelles des enfants pendant la pandémie de COVID-19. Introduction: An impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emotions and behaviors of children has been found in several studies. However, this impact is not found in all studies. Attachment could be linked to different reactions and levels of anxiety. Objective: The main aim of this study was to analyze the links between children’s insecure attachment and variables related to anxiety, emotional and behavioral management of children during the pandemic. Method: Study participants (n=83 parents and their child aged 6 to 12) completed anonymously online questionnaires assessing attachment insecurity, state-anxiety, coping strategies and emotional regulation. They also answered socio-demographic questions related to their context of life and experience of the pandemic. Results: State-anxiety is significantly related to children's emotional dysregulation but not to emotion-oriented coping strategy. Significant links were observed between attachment insecurity on the one hand, and children's state-anxiety, emotion-oriented coping strategy and children's emotional dysregulation on the other hand. Emotional dysregulation mediates the link between disorganized attachment and state anxiety. Conclusion: The links between attachment insecurity and children's state-anxiety on the one hand, and the emotion-oriented coping strategy on the other hand highlight the importance of taking individual and interactional factors into account in children's socio-emotional manifestations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The personality profile of the civil defense volunteer in the footsteps of a patron saint. Research on the Apostle Barnabas

The author, former director of the social and health service of the Sondrio ASL (Local Health Authority) and first president of the association Psicologi per i Popoli - Lombardia, returned some time ago to his native village of Bondo in the prov-ince of Trento. During the long months of lockdown for Covid-19, he became inter-ested in researching the patron saint of his native village. We are talking about St Barnabas, Apostle, who is celebrated every year in the 11th June village festival, but whose historical and biographical features have been lost over time. Through painstaking research into the apostle Barnabas, the author captured the personal-ity traits that should characterise volunteers, including psychologists, in their com-plex and delicate role in emergency situations. Who, if not Barnabas the Apostle, the author wonders, could be the patron saint of Civil Protection volunteers? The work presented here has the merit of focusing attention also on the necessary processes of selection, training and employment of professional personnel called upon to work as volunteers in emergency situations.

Impact of School Closure Due to COVID-19 on the Social-Emotional Skills of Japanese Pre-school Children.

Objective: This study examines the impact on the social-emotional skills of Japanese pre-school children from downsizing of school activities in conjunction with voluntary school closures due to the first wave of COVID-19, in 2020. Methods: Participants included 32 children aged 4-5 years old from three pre-schools in Tokyo, Japan, where strict lockdown was not implemented and voluntary school closure was recommended. Child social-emotional skills was assessed by classroom teachers using Devereux Student Strengths Assessment mini (DESSA-mini) three times: November 2019, January 2020 (before the COVID-19), and March 2020 (during the first COVID-19 wave). All pre-schools implemented voluntary school closures from March 2nd, and two schools (school A and B) canceled school recitals, while one school (school C) allowed for it to be held on March 4th, with precautions in place to prevent the spread of infection. Repeated measures ANOVA were performed to examine the difference between the T scores of the DESSA-mini three pre-schools before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: In school C, children showed stable T scores of the DESSA-mini, whereas children in school A and B showed lower T scores of the DESSA-mini during COVID-19 than before it started. The interaction effects between time and pre-schools were found (F = 7.05, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that school recitals in pre-schools were important to maintaining children's social-emotional skills during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adolescents' Longitudinal School Engagement and Burnout Before and During COVID-19-The Role of Socio-Emotional Skills.

This longitudinal study examined school engagement and burnout profiles among early and middle adolescents before and during COVID-19, and within-class latent change and stability in students' socio-emotional skills the profiles. The longitudinal data were collected in fall 2019 and 2020 from 1381 5th to 6th, and 1374 7th to 8th grade students. Using repeated measures latent profile analyses based on school engagement and burnout we identified five study well-being change profiles in both samples showing structural similarity: normative (53% sample 1; 69% sample 2), moderate-decreasing (4%; 5%), high-decreasing (17%; 10%), low-increasing (6%;7%) and moderate-increasing (20%; 10%) groups. The groups with increasing study well-being showed simultaneous increase in intrapersonal socio-emotional competencies but showed less changes in interpersonal outcomes.

Fathers matter: Intrahousehold responsibilities and children's wellbeing during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy.

The lockdown imposed during the spring of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic upset families lives, in addition to the health consequences of the virus, forcing parents to completely reorganize their labor, domestic work and childcare time. At the same time, school closures forced children to rearrange their lives and learning processes: in Italy, schools and nurseries were closed for four months, and the incidence and quality of distance learning activities was heterogeneous across education levels and among schools. Using real-time survey data on families with under-16 children collected in April 2020, which include information on parents' market and household work, and their perception of their children's wellbeing, we estimate how the lockdown has affected children's use of time, their emotional status and their home learning, and whether the reallocation of intrahousehold responsibilities during the lockdown played a role in this process. Changes in the parental division of household tasks and childcare, mostly induced by the labor market restrictions imposed during the lockdown, point to a greater involvement of fathers in childcare and homeschooling activities. This positive variation in fathers' involvement is accompanied by an increase in children's emotional wellbeing and by a reduction in TV and passive screen time. On the other hand, the quality of children's home learning does not appear to depend on which parent is overseeing their work, but rather on the type of distance learning activities proposed by their teachers.