Contribuições de um treinamento de habilidades sociais para o desenvolvimento socioemocional de crianças e adolescentes: significações parentais

ObjectiveThis qualitative study aimed to understand parental meanings about the contribution of social skills training to the socioemotional development of their children.MethodSemi-structured online interviews were conducted one to two years after the intervention with eight mothers and one father whose children, aged eight to 14, participated in a social skills training at a university in southern Brazil. The interviews were subjected to thematic analysis, prepared with the help of the webQDA software.ResultsTwo categories emerged: Understanding social skills from the parents’ perspective and Repercussions of the experience of participating in social skills training for the child and for the parent-child relationship, analyzed based on the Bioecological Theory. Parents reported that their children learned skills on how to make friends, empathy, civility, self-control, emotional expressiveness, assertiveness and problem-solving.ConclusionFor parents, social skills training favored the socioemotional development of their children, contributing to self-knowledge and social interactions.