Assessment of a Game to Teach Assertive Behaviors to Children

Abstract:

This study evaluated the effects of using the board game Space Ability: Making Contact with Aliens on assertive behavior in schoolchildren. This competitive board game consists of 10 teaching objectives in which the players are astronauts who must fulfill a mission in space to win the game. In total, four children aged nine or 10 years were included in this intervention. In its pre-intervention phase, participants and their teachers completed the Social Skills Rating System Inventory (SSRS-BR). Assertive and unassertive behaviors were observed in a simulated situation. Overall, six sessions were held with the game in the intervention. A simulated situation session showed assertive behaviors between the third and fourth intervention sessions. The post-intervention reapplied the SSRS-BR and performed another simulated situation session. This study found that three of the four participants showed an increase in the percentile of the general class and the assertiveness subclass in the self-report and teacher-reported inventories of the SSRS-BR. Comparing the pre- and post-intervention sessions, the simulated situation increased the rate of assertive behavior in all participants. Comments by participants during the game showed that it was possible to relate the content of the cards to the behaviors they displayed in their social context. The data obtained in this study corroborate the statement that games can be interesting tools to teach social behavior (in the case of this study, assertive behavior), especially when learners are children and adolescents.

Keywords:
Assertiveness; Game; Behavior Analysis; Social Skills