The PRSIST Intervention to Improve Self-Regulation in Preschoolers: An Adaptation to the Italian Context

Self-regulation is the ability to control cognitive, behavioural and social–emotional processes in service of one's goals. In the preschool years, self-regulation develops rapidly, and during this period, it is influenced by the plasticity of the underlying neurofunctional circuits. Since good early self-regulation skills favour positive developmental trajectories, numerous interventions have been proposed to enhance early self-regulation skills. The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of one of these, the Preschool Situational Self-Regulation Toolkit (PRSIST), adapted to the Italian context. Two hundred and twenty-seven preschoolers were randomly assigned at the classroom level to an experimental group (EG, n = 117) and a control group (CG, n = 110). The EG was involved in the intervention for 6 months, delivered by the classroom teachers through: daily playful activities with self-regulation challenge, participating in teacher training of beneficial adult practices and parent newsletters. The EG showed significant improvement compared to the CG in: cognitive self-regulation; inhibition; cognitive flexibility; and prosocial behaviours. Children with low initial performance improved even more from the training. These results support the acceptability and efficacy of this intervention, which can be implemented by teachers within Italian preschool contexts to promote the self-regulation skills of preschoolers.