Characterization of Group Social Skills Training for Children: An Integrative Literature Review

Abstract

Social skills are classes of behavior that can contribute to the prevention and reduction of behavior problems, as well as to the promotion of socio-emotional development. The aim of this study was to characterize group social skills training of children aged 6 to 12 years old with typical and atypical development, in national and international publications. For that, an integrative literature review was carried out with publications from 2009 to 2019, with descriptors in Portuguese, English and Spanish, in the SciELO, BVS, PsycInfo, SCOPUS and Web of Science databases. 29 publications were selected and the results indicated the predominance of international studies and training for children with typical development, carried out by psychologists, mainly in school and health contexts. The themes worked on in the sessions did not vary due to clinical diagnoses, however the average number of sessions was greater in interventions aimed at children with atypical development. The influence of the context on the intervention programs was found, although the effects of the training varied according to the sample size, duration, place of occurrence, method to collect the information and measures used to evaluate the results. It is suggested that such aspects of the training be analyzed considering the variables together.