Development of socioemotional and career skills: Evaluation of the Edu-Car program

In Brazil, the legislation predict that the school provides subsidies both in the field of preparatory training and in respect to the practice of citizenship and orientation to work. This study aims to delineate and evaluate a psychoeducational program to promote socio-emotional and career competencies in terms of effectiveness and process. It is an action research with quantitative and qualitative approach, with intervention group and comparison without intervention, in a pre and post-test design. The project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the FFCLRP and care regarding the subjects\' participation was taken. The 116 participants are students from the first year of high school, from two public schools in the inner city of São Paulo, of which 48.3% are boys and 51.7% girls, between 14 and 17 years old (M = 15.09, SD = 0.7). The intervention was carried out by class, in the classroom, under the responsibility of the researcher, master in Psychology. In one of the schools, a second group participated as a comparative group and, in another, two groups participated in this condition. The intervention group consisted of 44 students (55% boys, ages: M = 15.16, SD = 0.7) and the comparative group had 72 students (56% girls, ages: M = 15, 4, SD = 0.7). In the pre and post-test, the Social and Emotional or Non-cognitive Nationwide Assessment and the Career Education Questionnaire were used before and after the program. Data analysis were performed according to the subgroups and total sample. Descriptive analyzes were performed to characterize the socioemotional and career profile. For the intragroup comparison of the results, was used the T-Test for paired samples and the ANCOVA multivariate analysis. The magnitude of the effect of intervention was calculated by each of the dimensions of socioemotional and career competences by d Cohen in the total sample. Intergroup comparison was performed using the Student\'s T-Test for independent samples. The evaluation of the intervention process was performed through analysis of the transcribed content from audio recordings of the intervention sessions. The participants\' responses to the Final Assessment Sheet of the Program were also analyzed in terms of frequency and content. There were no statistically significant effects of the intervention regarding socio-emotional competences, however, it was verified that the intervention had significant effects on the career exploration of adolescents, as they presented a greater attitude of seeking help and/or information from different people and sources. The content analysis pointed out positive reactions of the participants to the intervention. The school was identified as a place of preparation for work, as Career Education presupposes, and the topics discussed were considered important for life. In the total sample, most of the students considered the quality of the activities developed in the intervention as good and their participation as regular. We discuss limitations of the program as well as the implications for the development of future studies. (AU)