French validation of a scale measuring life skills for children aged 9-12 years old

International audienceAccording to WHO (2003), 'Life skills' are defined as psychosocial abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories of skills: cognitive skills for analyzing and using information, personal skills for developing personal agency and managing oneself, and inter-personal skills for communicating and interacting effectively with others. Skills-based health education is an approach to creating or maintaining healthy lifestyles and conditions through the development of knowledge, attitudes, and especially skills, using a variety of learning experiences, with an emphasis on participatory methods. The aim of our study was to develop an integrated measure of the life skills grouped into three broad categories of skills for children who are at least 9 years old: emotional, social and cognitive competencies. The present communication is focused on the validation in a French validation of a tool measuring social (Weiss and al, 2014) and cognitive (Miller and Green, 1996; Green, 2015) competencies in children. Data were collected three times during year 2017-2018: 614 questionnaire (T1), 564 (T2), 331 (T3) – 311 children filled the questionnaire three times. Three aspects were explored in order to assess the validity and reliability of both competences: Validity of construct, concurrent validity and reliability (SPSS 23, AMOS 21 and Jamovi). Final measure’s structures established at T1 were tested with data collected at T2 et T3. The results show a high reliability and a good validity (construct and concurrent), thus indicating satisfying psychomotor qualities. This data collection will also assess the predictive validity of the scale. Acknowledgment: CPS team and sc hools and pupils involve