Evaluating the Uniemotion Program: Helping college students improve their personal and emotional skills

Abstract

This research aimed to determine the effect of the UniEmotion Program: Discover and Strengthen Your Competencies on the emotional competencies of students from the School of Education at the Jorge Basadre Grohmann National University in Tacna. The study employed a quantitative approach and utilized a quasi-experimental design. The population consisted of 1,030 students from the five academic programs of the School of Education, enrolled during the 2024-II semester. The sample, selected through non-probability purposive sampling, consisted of 193 students, with the experimental group comprising students from the Foreign Language program. For data collection, a survey based on the Emotional Competence Inventory for Adults (ICEA) was applied. This instrument evaluates five dimensions: emotional awareness (EA), emotional regulation (ER), personal autonomy (PA), social competence (SC), and life skills and well-being (LSW). The results showed that, after the implementation of the program, the experimental group did not exhibit statistically significant changes in any of the evaluated dimensions (p > 0.05). However, a significant difference was observed in emotional awareness when comparing the experimental group with the LELI group (p = 0.05; r = 0.21), although the effect size was small. In the control groups, various changes were identified, including improvements in PA and SC in the MACI group, and a decrease in EA and PA in the LELI group. In conclusion, the UniEmotion Program showed a mild impact on the emotional awareness dimension, with no significant changes in the others. Nonetheless, these findings allow for the projection of future implementations with broader scope and continuity, thus strengthening their contribution to the emotional development of future education professionals.