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Benefits of Super Skills for Life in a randomized controlled trial in clinical settings for Spanish children with comorbid conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2023

Sara Diego Open the ORCID record for Sara Diego [Opens in a new window] ,
Alexandra Morales  and
Mireia Orgilés
Sara Diego*
Affiliation:
Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernandez University of Elche, Elche, Spain
Alexandra Morales
Affiliation:
Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernandez University of Elche, Elche, Spain
Mireia Orgilés
Affiliation:
Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernandez University of Elche, Elche, Spain
*
Corresponding author: S. Diego; Email: diegocsara@gmail.com
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Abstract

Emotional disorders in children are often associated with low self-concept and problems with peers, and in many cases externalizing symptoms. Super Skills for Life (SSL) is a transdiagnostic treatment for emotional problems in children that has also shown benefits in other comorbid symptoms. This study aimed to examine, for the first time, the effect of SSL on a clinical sample of Spanish children aged 8–12 years with a major emotional disorder and comorbid externalizing symptoms and low self-concept. A quasi-experimental design with two groups, pretest and posttest, was carried out. Thirty-eight children received the SSL intervention, and 36 children were assigned to a wait-list control (WLC) group. Children in SSL showed statistically fewer posttest emotional symptoms (p < .001), peer problems (p = .002), and overall internalizing and externalizing difficulties (p = .005) compared to children in WLC, in addition to higher posttest self-concept (p = .002). There were no differences in the postinterventional changes between boys and girls in internalizing and externalizing symptoms. However, significant differences were found in some facets of self-concept. The results of this study suggest that the SSL protocol may be useful in Spanish clinical contexts. Still, more research is needed to overcome some of the inherent limitations.

Keywords

Disordercomorbiditytreatmenttransdiagnosticchildren
Type
Regular Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , First View , pp. 1 - 10
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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