Effectiveness of Fun FRIENDS on social emotional functioning of Pakistani school children

Abstract

School-based intervention programs are important for children from low- and middle-income countries where prior research suggests they are at greater risk for poor social-emotional functioning (SEF). The present study examined the effectiveness of an Urdu (Pakistani language) version of the Fun FRIENDS program in enhancing the SEF of school children from Islamabad, Pakistan. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 426 children (4 to 8 years) from public schools. The findings of the study demonstrated a significant positive effect of the intervention on child-reported social-emotional development. Whereas emotional knowledge and recognition and teacher-reported externalizing problems were not significant. These results provide preliminary evidence that Fun FRIENDS may be effective in promoting one aspect of the SEF of school children in Pakistan. However, larger-scale studies with public and private school student populations are necessary to understand better these largely null results and how to best optimize school-based programs within Pakistani culture.