An evidence-based training to enhance earthquake-related behavioural preparedness and emotional competence

Natural disasters, including earthquakes, can have a great impact on children’s psychological well-being and development (Furr et al., 2010; Lai et al., 2014). The literature has documented the efficacy of interventions aimed at enhancing children’s socio-emotional learning (Durlak et al., 2011). At the same time, it is key to train adequately children for possible future disasters (Masten, 2021), enhancing their knowledge on both behavioural preparedness and emotional competence. However, research on evidence-based training on earthquakes combining digital and traditional activities is scarce. We tested the efficacy of a 10-unit training for primary school children, developed within the Emotional Prevention and Earthquake in Primary School (PrEmT) project. It aimed at increasing knowledge on earthquakes, safety behaviours, emotions and coping strategies, through digital (using the web-application HEMOT® developed ad-hoc) and traditional activities (completing paper-and-pencil tasks). The participants were 557 second (M = 7;5, 43% F) and fourth-graders (M = 9;4, 53% F) from Italian schools. They were divided into an experimental (participating to the training) and a control group. Both groups participated to pre-tests and post-tests to evaluate their knowledge on training-related contents (Raccanello et al., 2021). For ethical reasons, we also measured children’s well-being adapting the Italian version of the School-Related Well-Being scale (Loderer et al., 2016). Generalized linear mixed models indicated the improvement of experimental group’s knowledge after the training, compared to the control group (group X pre-post phase: nature of earthquakes, χ2(1) = 7.18; safety behaviours, χ2(1) = 146.70; emotion recognition: χ2(1) = 85.70; emotional lexicon, χ2(1) = 31.91; coping strategies, χ2(1) = 233.10; all p < .001). Well-being increased for both groups, χ2(1) = 19.05, p < .001. The results documented the efficacy of the evidence-based training developed within the PrEmT project. It represents a preventive method to enhance earthquake-related resilience, to be generalized also to other disasters.