Psychosocial intervention for socially vulnerable children focused on socioemotional skills.
Keyword: Social vulnerability, childhood, cognitive behavioral therapy, intervention.
Children in social vulnerability are exposed to numerous stressors that occur in a chronic way, contributing to important changes in self-regulation skills. They are more prone to conflict, experiencing less stimulating environments. Work directed towards children has been shown to be an important protective factor in the prevention of psychopathologies throughout life. Thus, this work aimed to develop a psychosocial intervention focused on the development of socioemotional skills for children aged 6 to 11 who are in social vulnerability. A descriptive and correlational study was carried out, with convenience collection and qualitative-quantitative approach. In order to achieve the proposed objective, an integrative literature review was carried out to learn about interpretations used in the country directed to this population. A survey of the social competence and behavioral problems of 21 children who attend the Casa Manjedoura Institution located in the city of Barra Mansa / RJ was also carried out through information provided by their families who responded to the CBCL- Child Behavior Checklist. The perception of 8 professionals who work or have worked with socially vulnerable populations through a semi-structured interview answered online was also collected. The results of the Integrative Review and the interview applied to professionals pointed out that for the elaboration of an intervention in this context, it is essential to work in a network to guarantee the rights of children and indicated that the researcher's relationship with the environment to be studied is shown as essential factor for knowledge about the reality that is intended to intervene. The data through the adapted instrument that 90% of the children evaluated show externalizing behavior, characterized by aggressiveness, affecting psychomotor and delinquent behavior. The relationship with externalizing behavior in childhood and the development of antisocial adults is indicated in the literature. 76% of the evaluated children already have symptoms on the Internalizing Behavior Scale with symptoms of anxiety, isolation, depression and somatic complaints (they were considered as clinical and borderline categories). Racial inequality was also found in this research because 62% of the children evaluated were black and 38% were brown. The results obtained allow us to understand the urgency of interventional proposals that address the needs of this population, contributing to the development of socio-emotional skills of children and their families.