Life Skills as a Form of Prevention
Adolescence is one of the most important periods of people's lives. This phase of human development, in which the child becomes an adult, delimits the potential for psychological growth of the individual. Depending on how one structures oneself psychologically, the adolescent can become a successful or failed adult.
Adolescence is also characterized by being a period in which there are greater possibilities for adolescents to experience new and, precisely because they are new, attractive. This makes them more vulnerable to exhibiting behaviors that endanger their health.
The most frequent risk behaviors among young people are: early onset of sexuality, sexual intercourse without the use of condoms, non-use and/or inappropriate use of contraceptives, improper use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco, violence and traffic accidents. Given all these aspects, it is evident that adolescence is a phase of life in which individuals are more exposed to risk factors linked to behavioral aspects.
Three-quarters of all adolescent deaths are due to preventable, non-disease-related causes. There is a need for a health intervention with emphasis on the prevention of the occurrence of these risk behaviors and the implementation of new healthy lifestyle habits. If we have so many problems and health risks at this stage of life, why not advocate the existence and implementation of specific programmes? The problem with these programs lies precisely in their specificity. A professional action developed to reduce the risk of tobacco use will have its effect restricted to tobacco use, not reaching, or only peripherally, other risk behaviors. This limitation applies to all specific programs in any risk area. Therefore, it has been argued about the need to develop more general aspects of the behavior of adolescents that make them resistant to various types of risk.
There is an interesting concept in the literature in this area suggesting that, if an adolescent has strong internal protective factors, he may resist, more than other adolescents in the same situation, to present unhealthy behaviors that often result from the stress of risk. Internal protective factors include self-esteem and internal control, while external factors are mainly social support from family and community.
We should seek to understand how resistance factors (or resistivity) develop and how it would be possible to implement them in adolescents who do not have them. The development of these skills would create an increase in the internal resistivity of each adolescent, thus enabling him to face risk situations without getting involved in them. The World Health Organization proposes Life Skills teaching programs aimed at developing adaptive and socially appropriate behaviors in children and young people, in order to enable them to negotiate effectively with the demands and challenges of daily life (WHO, 1997).
There are a number of skills that can help individuals to have behaviors that favor their health, as they enable the transformation of knowledge, attitudes or values into positive actions. The Life Skills proposed by the WHO are: decision making, problem solving, creative thinking, critical thinking, effective communication, interpersonal relationships, self-knowledge, empathy, dealing with emotions and dealing with stress. According to the Pan American Health Organization, these skills can be grouped into categories that complement each other: social and interpersonal skills, cognitive skills, and skills to manage emotions.
Life Skills programs can be developed in different contexts, including schools, community centers, basic health units, institutions that serve adolescents, etc. The content to be developed must adapt to the characteristics and specificities of the population for which it will be proposed. Therefore, aspects such as poverty, violence and lack of job opportunities, which are specific to each target population, should be considered before starting the implementation of a program.
The WHO has advocated the widespread use of Life Skills education programs as a way to reduce health risk behaviors.
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