Social and emotional skills (or SES) are a set of social, emotional, and cognitive skills designed to improve relationships with oneself and others. As a key factor in overall health and educational and social success, the development of SES represents a strategic approach that remains underutilized in prevention efforts and lies at the heart of health, educational, and social challenges. PSCs are already incorporated into various public policies at the national level, in public health, and in teaching and education. Highlighted by the WHO as early as the 1980s, within the framework of the Ottawa Charter, the development of PSCs represents one of the five action areas of health promotion and a major strategy in prevention.

Psychosocial Skills: Rapidly Expanding Development Programs in France

Driven by an interministerial strategy and following the mental health conference in September 2021, a strategy for the nationwide rollout of psychosocial skills has been launched. As part of this effort, Santé publique France is publishing a framework and a comprehensive report on PSKs on its website, based on the latest scientific knowledge and with the assistance of a committee of specialists (scientists and practitioners). As part of this national rollout, numerous other resources (practical guides, online materials, etc.) will complement these theoretical documents and support decision-makers and professionals in implementing evidence-based PS skills interventions. With the same objective in mind, a seminar on the psychosocial skills of children and youth was held on December 14 and 15, 2021, featuring the sharing of experiences and testimonials, which helped bridge the gap between scientific and experiential knowledge. The recording and presentations from the seminar are available on our website.

Current State of Knowledge on Psychosocial Skills: Key Areas

In 2022, Santé Publique France conducted a review of scientific and theoretical knowledge to build a common and shared understanding of psychosocial skills (PSS). As a result of this work, two documents have been published: a theoretical and scientific framework and a comprehensive report.

• Chapter 1: Updated definition and categorization of psychosocial skills based on scientific literature and international frameworks (WHO, CASEL, OECD, etc.).

• Chapter 2: Description of the major categories of psychosocial competencies (cognitive, emotional, and social) and their specific characteristics.

• Chapter 3: History of PSK programs in France.

• Chapter 4: Inclusion of PSCs in public policies.

• Chapter 5: Implementation of PSK programs across regions.

• Chapter 6: Assessment of the effects of evidence-based PSL programs on health (reduction in addiction, violence, mental health issues, and sexual health issues; increase in well-being) and educational success (improvement in school climate, academic performance, and career integration).

• Chapter 7: "Key factors" common to various evidence-based CPS programs to facilitate the development of high-quality CPS interventions.

• Chapter 8: General principles, types, and stages of CPS intervention evaluation.

These documents constitute a theoretical framework aimed at developing a shared culture regarding CPS. They will be supplemented at a later date by more practical, operational guides and resources.

3 Questions for François Beck, Director of the Department of Prevention and Health Promotion at Santé publique France

What explains the rise of psychosocial skills (PSS)?

Numerous collective expert reports from Inserm (health education, addictions, alcohol, etc.) and reviews of the scientific literature recommend the use of psychosocial skills programs. These programs aim to strengthen psychological and interpersonal skills (emotional regulation, stress management, positive relationships with others, decision-making, the ability to say no, etc.) and reduce the emergence of risk factors (behavioral problems, academic failure, addictive behaviors, violent behaviors, etc.), thereby helping to prevent several health issues associated with high morbidity and mortality.

It is therefore not surprising that numerous initiatives have been launched in this direction at both the international and national levels. Building on the work of the WHO, which highlighted life skills as early as the 1980s, major international organizations now support this evidence-based approach to life skills development: the WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNAIDS, and UNODC have produced international guidelines to promote it. The World Bank has produced manuals for teachers and students. The OECD is set to launch a second wave of an international longitudinal survey to study these competencies among young people in the general population.

In France, often at the initiative of health professionals within the National Education system and with the support of health education organizations (future IREPs) and addiction prevention organizations (future Association Addictions France), intervention tools and the first experimental PSK programs began to develop as early as the 1990s. Today, psychosocial skills are referenced in six national public health plans (priority prevention, mental health and psychiatry, addictions, tobacco, sexual health, and cancer), the educational health pathway, and the Ministry of National Education’s “Health-Promoting School” initiative, within higher education and agricultural education. There are numerous regional and local initiatives led by associations, with support from regional health agencies or local authorities.
At the Mental Health and Psychiatry Conference in September 2021, the development of a multisectoral strategy for the implementation of CPS was announced, with the 15-year goal of ensuring that all children and young people can receive CPS training.

How is Santé publique France addressing this issue?

Santé publique France has long been involved in scientific literature reviews on prevention programs based on the development of psychosocial skills (PSS), as well as in the cultural adaptation and evaluation of foreign programs such as the Strengthening Families Program (PFSP), Unplugged, Assist, and the Good Behavior Game. The agency is also involved in monitoring the quality of the implementation of interventions whose effectiveness has been demonstrated. Adherence to intervention protocols and their adaptation to the French context are indeed key factors in their success. A registry of effective and promising interventions is currently being developed so that stakeholders wishing to launch programs can do so with those that have the best chance of being effective. This registry includes a number of PSB programs.

As part of the multisectoral CPS strategy, the agency supports the nationwide rollout of evidence-based CPS interventions. This “scaling up” will require fostering exchanges between scientific knowledge and experiential knowledge and promoting the sharing of the latest knowledge and expertise on CPS to enable the dissemination of evidence-based and effective interventions aligned with French practices and the quality criteria identified in the literature.
We thus contribute our expertise and foster synergies among the various forms of knowledge and stakeholders involved. Through the production of documents and resources and the organization of seminars, the agency supports this movement for the development and implementation of CPS in all settings, starting from the earliest ages.

What actions or initiatives are planned?

Reference documents, such as a framework and, currently, a state-of-the-art review, are available to provide a theoretical reference framework as a foundation for the deployment of CPS interventions. More operational materials based on scientific and experiential knowledge (practical framework, guides, booklets, flyers, online resources, etc.) must be co-developed with a network of researchers and professionals specializing in CPS. These materials are expected to become available starting in 2023. We are working closely with the Directorate General for Health, which is tasked with developing an evaluation framework for this multisectoral CPS strategy; the goal is to ensure that the next generation of young people can benefit from CPS training.