🔵SBE: Description of the test

This test is part of the applied research project developed by Habilmind called Regresando.es. This project aims to help schools in the process of re-entry of students to the classroom after the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the intervention prior to the return. The test called "Screening of Emotional Well-being" aims to assess the emotional impact of confinement on children and adolescents. This document describes the characteristics of the test and the indicators analysed.

Why use this test?

A violent interruption to the routines of life disrupts the equilibrium of people, especially children and teenagers, who lack the personal resources to organise appropriate responses to an unprecedented experience.

This period of isolation that humanity has lived through has all the elements of crisis and uncertainty, intense and prolonged, which has provoked diverse emotional reactions in the adult, child and youth population. The combination of crisis and uncertainty obliges the school and the family to respond, not only to this event. The gift of this crisis is the awareness of an area of formation that touches the educational essence: we need to build in our children and teenagers a strong character in the face of difficulties (crisis), to grow inner courage as an area of influence so that events do not become the decisive force in the destiny of our children and teenagers.

Education during the first post-crisis stage should pay attention to the emotional aspects in all the agents of the educational process prior to any attempt to return to normality in education. In order for the students to be able to learn the curricular contents, to attend and relate to each other in an adequate way, it is necessary to know how they are emotionally and to address as a priority any difficulties that are detected.

Objectives of the assessment

The Screening of Emotional Well-being aims to assess the emotional state of children and teenagers after the long confinement caused by the pandemic.

The aim is to detect possible emotional and behavioural alterations and to intervene to improve them.

Structure of the test

This screening has been designed with the aim of collecting in a quick, simple and efficient way information about the key and fundamental aspects to know the emotional well-being of the child and the teenager.

The structure of the test is presented below: indicators and sub-indicators.

Indicators analysed in the screening classified by typology

Factor	Indicators
Causal emotions	Fear, Rage, Anxiety, Sadness
Emotional protection	Optimism - Pessimism, High self-esteem - Low self-esteem, Emotional expressiveness - Emotional blocking, Motivation - Demotivation
Behavioural manifestations	Sleep disturbances, Alteration in eating behaviour, Screen-time overuse, Disruptiveness - Aggressiveness, Social isolation

Description of factors and indicators

FACTOR

❣️Causal emotions

Levels of fear, sadness, anxiety and rage as negative reactions to emotional and social balance in children and teenagers. These responses to life-threatening stimuli generate an emotional "civil war" in the mind and lead to emotional, social and behavioural maladjustments. The prolonged duration of these experiences can have health-threatening somatic consequences.

INDICATORS

• Fear

​Emotion experienced in the face of real and imminent danger where physical or psychological integrity is threatened.

• Sadness

​Emotion experienced at the loss of someone or something important to the subject.

• Rage

​This emotion is experienced in the face of intense frustration, which exceeds the limits of self-control.

• Anxiety

​It is experienced in the face of a feeling of real or imaginary danger, taking the form of nervousness, uneasiness, uneasiness.

FACTOR

🛡️ Emotional protection

The components of the assessed emotional protectors are presented in dichotomies, used as gradients of response to critical or uncertain situations. These factors mark the predominant and most impactful reactions to productive behaviours and the overall well-being of each child or teenager; they are indicators of the main pillars of sustainable personal development.

INDICATORS

• Level of Optimism

The belief systems learned from an early age work as powerful filters of reality. When consolidated, they form unconscious and automatic habits that function as "ways of being" and attitudes towards environmental stimuli. The paradox of optimism and pessimism is omnipresent when humans face crises and uncertainties: the same reality or event is experienced in opposite ways by people who are polarised in this duality. Since beliefs are modifiable by educational intervention, it is indispensable to detect the most likely inclination in the face of crises and uncertainty, as it will awaken a chain of cognitive, emotional, social and physical reactions derived from the dominant belief.

• Level of Self-esteem

This factor concentrates many factors that are based on personal history and are derived from other important reactions. At the crossroads of the human personality, self-esteem connects many areas of emotional and behavioural reaction. Its presence ensures resilience, strength in the face of effort and frustration, activation of neurological molecules of well-being, optimistic filters in the face of painful or difficult stimuli, proper functioning of long-term memory, activation of the parasympathetic nervous system that guarantees better health. The opposite pole is bleak and threatening for the socio-emotional balance of children and teenagers.

• Level of Emotional expressiveness

This refers to the ability to identify the emotion experienced, name it and express it with dignity and respect. When a child turns his or her pain into a story, he or she can control and manage it. Silence or unconsciousness forms the breeding ground for a heavy psychological shadow (C. Jung) that devastates people's current lives. Boris Cyrulnik will serve as an inspiration with his concept of resilience: resuming development after an existential wound or trauma.

• Level of Motivation

The human brain activates curiosity and learning when it has dopamine inputs. Motivation is a movement of the soul in search of a satisfier to a priority or intense need. Pain or fear block the secretion of this neurotransmitter, which is indispensable for the harmonious development of children and teenagers. Dopamine only appears in the brain when risk, crisis or danger is not faced, in which case, cortisol secretion overwhelms the prefrontal cerebral cortex to focus all energy on survival. Learning, in this case, is a secondary good, with little brain appeal.

FACTOR

👁️ Behavioural manifestations

The behavioural manifestations of an emotional reaction to crisis and uncertainty represent the outcome of the painful or resilient emotional cycle. At the negative pole, the behaviours may be warning signs, indicating that the reaction is intense or has settled in with its aftermath of problems. They are the visible indicators of an emotional and social deterioration that cries out for attention.

INDICATORS

• Sleep disturbances

Difficulty falling asleep, interrupted sleep cycle, feeling tired in the morning, frequent nightmares.

• Alterations in eating habits

Loss or increase of appetite, anxious consumption, etc.

• Screen-time overuse

The easy and quick accessibility of electronic devices leads to addictive processes due to the amount of dopamine they generate in the brain. Once this process is activated, attention, sleep and interpersonal relationships are the first victims.

• Aggressiveness

Rage is a reaction to intense or ongoing frustration, which exceeds the limits of self-control. It is healthy when the stimulus is present and the response is proportional, but it harms the offender and the immediate environment. Aggression is a thermometer of the degree of emotional imbalance that breaks down protective barriers.

• Social isolation

Toxic loneliness is an indicator of internal discomfort reflected in those closest to us. It is a mixture of sadness and rage that leads to self-enclosure as protection and rejection. The more it intensifies or continues over time, the more dangerous it becomes.

Application of the Screening

Some aspects to bear in mind about this test are the following:

1. It is aimed at students in Pre-school, Elementary School, Middle School and High School.

• The questionnaires from Pre-school to 3rd grade are answered by the parents.

• The questionnaires from the 4th grade onwards are answered by the students themselves.

2. The questionnaires have a total of 65 questions with 9 alternative answers (Likert scale).

3. The application of the test is online, allowing remote application.

4. The correction of the test is automatic, once the students take the test, the counsellor and the teacher (when permissions are activated) can see and analyse the results at individual and group level.

5. The school automatically obtains personalised reports, with recommendations, individual reports addressed specifically as well as differentiated to families and teachers; and group reports for teachers.

Bibliography

Gemma Filella, University of Lleida

Rafael Bisquerra, University of Barcelona.

Beck A.T. (1991) Cognitive Therapy and the emotional disorders.

Blanco, I. (2004). Padres Comprometidos.

Blanco, I. (2017). Engaged schools.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2006). A life worth living.

Davidson, R.; Begley, S. (2012). The Emotional Life of your brain.

Davidson, S., Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2007). Applied positive psychology.

Dweck, C.S (2017). Mindset.

Feinstein, S.G. (2009). Secrets of the teenage brain. Sheryl G.

Goleman, D., & Davidson, R. (2006). Training the Brain: cultivating emotional intelligence.

Gourion, D. (2019). La fragilité psychique des jeunes adultes.

Gueguen C. (2018) Heureux d'apprendre á l'école.

Jensen, F. E., Ellis, A. (2016). The teenage brain.

Pépin C. (2016). Les Vertus de leche.

Siegel, D.J.; Payne T. (2018) The Yes Brain.

Siegel, D. (2012). The whole-brain child.