Eficacia de un programa de educación emocional: contaminación entre condiciones experimentales en un estudio controlado

Abstract

El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la eficacia de un programa de educación emocional en tercero y cuarto curso de educación primaria; y analizar el efecto de contaminación entre las condiciones experimentales. Participaron 123 alumnos entre 8 y 11 años (M = 8.69; DT = .69; el 44.72% eran chicas) de un colegio privado de la Comunidad Valenciana, en España. Las clases establecidas por el centro fueron asignadas aleatoriamente al grupo experimental (4 grupos; n = 81) y grupo control (2 grupos; n = 42). Se evaluó autoestima, conciencia emocional y habilidades sociales, además de variables sociodemográficas. Los participantes fueron evaluados antes e inmediatamente después de la intervención. Los resultados indicaron que el grupo experimental mostró una mejora en autoestima (d = .34) y conciencia emocional (d = .30) con respecto al pretest (evaluación intragrupo). Comparando ambos grupos, el experimental mostró una mejora en la subescala autoestima positiva en el postest (d = .18), mientras que el grupo control mejoró en conciencia emocional (d = .14) (evaluación intergrupo). Los análisis para evaluar la posible contaminación entre grupos indicaron que el 40% de los participantes del grupo experimental hablaron sobre aspectos del programa con el grupo control. Este dato sugiere que los participantes del grupo control pudieron beneficiarse indirectamente de la intervención. Se concluye que la intervención es eficaz a corto plazo para mejorar la autoestima y conciencia emocional. El efecto de contaminación ha podido influir en los resultados; futuros estudios deben controlar este aspecto cuando ambos grupos convivan en el mismo colegio.

Efficacy of an emotional education program: contamination between experimental conditions in a controlled study. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an emotional education program in the third and fourth years of primary education, and to analyze the effect of contamination between the experimental conditions. A total of 123 students aged 8-11 years old (M = 8.69; SD = .69; 44.72% were girls) participated from a private school located in the Valencian Community (Spain). Groups previously established by the school were randomly assigned to the experimental group (4 groups; n = 81), which received the intervention, and control group (2 groups; n = 42). Self-esteem, emotional awareness and social skills were evaluated, as well as sociodemographic variables. Participants were assessed before and immediately after the intervention. The results indicated that children in the experimental group showed an improvement in self-esteem (d = .34) and emotional awareness (d = .30) in the posttest compared to the pretest (intragroup evaluation). Comparing both groups, the experimental showed an improvement in positive self-esteem in the posttest (d = .18), while the control group improved in emotional awareness (d = .14) (intergroup evaluation). Analyses to assess contamination between groups indicated that 40% of participants in the experimental group talked to participants in the control group about program related-aspects. This fact suggests that control group participants could benefit indirectly from the intervention. It is concluded that the intervention is effective in the short term to improve self-esteem and emotional awareness. The contamination effect may influence the results; therefore, future studies should control this aspect when both groups are coexisting in the same school.