Background: Studies evaluating the self-esteem of students in the middle years of elementary school are rare in Japan, probably because their self-awareness is not fully developed at that stage. However, a student’s meritorious points can be found with the assistance of his or her peers, and the student’s self-esteem can thus be enhanced.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a program for enhancing the self-esteem of third- and fourth-grade students at a public elementary school in Japan.
Methods: The study was conducted using a quasi-experimental design. An education group of 26 third-graders and 27 fourth-graders received the program in four sessions in 2014. The education group received a pretest a week before the first session and a post-test a week after the fourth session. A comparison group of 27 third-graders and 27 fourth-graders received the same tests at the same time as the education group, and received the same program 2 months after the post-test. The tests included a self-esteem scale and a social skill scale. Moreover, pretest-posttest changes in self-esteem and social skills were compared between the lower score group and the higher score group within the education group. Reflection and reports were written for each class as a process evaluation to check the effect of the lesson for the education group.
Results:
1) Prosocial skills of social skills in the education group significantly improved compared with the comparison group among third-grade students.
2) The self-esteem of third-grade children with higher self-esteem at the pre-test significantly improved compared with children with lower self-esteem. Prosocial skills of third-grade children with lower prosocial skills at the pre-test significantly improved compared with children with higher prosocial skills.
3) The results of reflection and reports for the process evaluation were largely affirmative.
Conclusion: The program was effective in improving the prosocial skills in third-grade children. Moreover, consideration of children’s self-esteem and prosocial skills before the class was necessary because the status of these variables partly influenced program effectiveness.
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