Abstract
The improvement or acquisition of socioemotional skills contributes to the academic and personal adaptation of university students. The way students think about themselves and others influence their social skills and well-being. Considering the importance of social competence for professional practice in the face of new social realities, the university must invest in programs that promote the socio-emotional development of students. This study compared the effects of interventions based on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Psychoeducation on assertive skills and subjective well-being. This study involved 25 undergraduate students of a public university. The students were randomly allocated to three groups, including the Control group, and they were evaluated by means of questionnaires, inventories, scales, and written evaluation of the group process. The program consisted of 10 meetings and a 6-week follow-up. Irrational beliefs were reduced and their assertive skills’ scores increased in the post-intervention and follow-up evaluations, regardless of the group. Only verbal reports from participants indicated an increase in well-being. The students’ written reports after the end of the meetings indicate that the two forms of intervention were evaluated as promoting change by the students. One of the limitations of the study is the size of the groups. Despite the very small sample size, the study highlights that developing a set of flexible beliefs is fundamental to the exercise of assertiveness.
Highlights
University admission may be stressful events for some students, especially for those admitted shortly after high school (Bastos et al, 2019; Pedrelli et al, 2015; Reddy et al, 2018)
The hypothesis was that both programs would promote more flexible ways of thinking and increase assertive skills and well-being, but that the group based on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) would have better results than the one based on Psychoeducation on interpersonal rights was not confirmed
The two programs in our study proposed interventions that made it possible to question the concept of selfesteem and strengthen students’ self-acceptance to increase their perception of satisfaction with life
Summary
University admission may be stressful events for some students, especially for those admitted shortly after high school (Bastos et al, 2019; Pedrelli et al, 2015; Reddy et al, 2018). Brazilian university students have few resources to manage their personal and professional relationships, and that can aggravate stress (Ariño & Bardagi, 2018). The use of social skills (SS) can partially mitigate the problems of university students in interactions (Lopes, Dascanio, Ferreira, Del Prette & Del Prette, 2017; Del Prette & Del Prette, 2017). Soares et al (2017) concluded that SS facilitate interpersonal relationships, promoting mental health and professional success of university students. Pereira et al (2014) found that 43.5% had SS deficits in at least one of the dimensions of the instrument; factor 1 (self-affirmation and coping with risk) had one of the lowest scores, indicating difficulties in defending their rights or respecting those of others among psychology students.
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