Dream Kids, giving childrean a voice : the future already begun with social participation, autonomy and responsibility

© Fundação Minerva - Cultura - Ensino e Investigação Científica / Universidades LusíadaIn recent years, health research has increasingly focused on processes associated with health promotion and less on disease and its determinants, talking more about promoting personal skills (self-regulation) and interpersonal, social and environmental skills (associated with promoting social cohesion and social support) as effective strategies for health and well-being promotion. The present study aims to present the pilot project “Dream Kids - giving voice to children “, also carried out by the Aventura Social Project, as a continuation of the Dream Teens project, including now children between 9 and 11 years old. The main objectives of this project were to emphasize the importance of children’s active participation, in their well-being and positive development, promote their social participation in different themes (school, culture, health, family, peers and adults, and relational, behavioral and social skills) and, at the same time, promote the interrelation between teacher and students and their social processes. Dream Kids Project included 26 children attending the 3rd grade between 8 and 9 years old. Since not all children responded to the two assessment moments, 21 (52.4% boys, M = 8.24) were included in this study. The “Para mim é Fácil [For me it’s Easy]” Scale (Gaspar & Matos, 2015) was used for the pre-post evaluation with a paired t-test and a satisfaction questionnaire. On the satisfaction scale, a salient issue is the fact that students enjoy the sessions and were eager to attend the program again, although some have complained about the questionnaires and others have not enjoyed talking about themselves and feelings, which contrasts with the fact that there were no significant changes in students’ assessment between pre and post evaluation. The issue of programme length is to be raised in future interventions.