The impact of life skills program on social problem solving behaviors of preschool children

This research aims to investigate the effect of Life Skills Education Program on children's social problem-solving behaviors. For this purpose, a life skills training program targeting children aged 60-72 months has been developed. Embedded design was used in the study. A quasi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test and follow-up measurement was used to evaluate the effect of the Life Skills Program on children's social problem-solving behaviors while interviews with families and child evaluations were used to examine the change in children's behavior. The study group consists of 71 children aged 60-72-months; 36 of whom are in the experimental group and 35 of whom are in the control group. Life Skills Education Program was administered to the children in the experimental group while a certain part of the program was administered to the children in the control group. As data collection tools; Social Skills Evaluation Scale, Communication Skills Scale for 5–6-year-old Children, Problem-Solving Skills Scale, Social Problem-Solving Skills Scale, Program Evaluation Form for Families and children's pictures were used. Follow-up tests were administered to the children in the experimental group. The data were analyzed using paired samples t-test and content analysis. The findings showed that the post-test scores of the children in the experimental group in social problem-solving, problem-solving, communication skills and interpersonal skills has increased significantly. Moreover, parents stated that they observed positive changes in their children's skills targeted in the program. When the children's drawings were examined, the children were found they achieved the learning outcomes of the program.