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Um Compasso Para Aprender: A Randomized Trial of a Social‐Emotional Learning Program in Homicide‐Affected Communities in Brazil
Author(s) -
McCoy Dana C.,
Hanno Emily C.,
Ponczek Vladimir,
Pinto Cristine,
Fonseca Gabriela,
Marchi Natália
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13579
Subject(s) - psychology , social emotional learning , moderation , randomized controlled trial , homicide , developmental psychology , poison control , suicide prevention , clinical psychology , social psychology , medicine , surgery , environmental health
Despite global demand, the large‐scale effects of social‐emotional learning (SEL) programming in developing countries remain underexplored. Using a randomized control trial, this study examined the effectiveness of a school‐wide SEL intervention— Programa Compasso (PC)—among 3,018 sociodemographically diverse, Portuguese‐speaking children ( M age = 9.85 years) attending 90 public primary schools across Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2017. Average impacts of PC on children’s executive function, emotion knowledge, and behavior problems after one school year were null. Moderation analyses did, however, reveal evidence for positive impacts of PC on children’s labeling of emotional expressions and inhibitory control within low‐homicide communities ( d = 0.15 SD s), and null effects on these same outcomes in high‐violence areas. Implementation and cultural considerations are discussed.