MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale
Program on Refugees, Forced Displacement, and Humanitarian Responses
This program concluded on June 30, 2024.
The Program on Refugees, Forced Displacement, and Humanitarian Responses concluded on June 30, 2024.

Impact of a Social-emotional Skills-Building Program (Pisotón) on Early Development of Children in Colombia: A Pilot Effectiveness Study

Publication Date:
2021

Quality early childhood development (ECD) settings that address children’s needs holistically provide safe and nurturing opportunities for children to thrive. We evaluated, through a quasi-experimental design, the impact of a social-emotional skills-building program (Pisotón) across ECD centers in Colombia. Developmental outcomes of children participating in Pisotón (n = 37) for 12 weeks were compared to those of children who did not participate in the program (n = 37) using the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) measure and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The results show that participation in Pisotón significantly increased children’s social-emotional development score by 0.37 standard deviation units as assessed by IDELA. Study implications are discussed.

DOI:  10.1016/j.ijer.2021.101898