Funding for this research was provided by:
San Carlos de Maipo Foundation (FSCM170505, FSCM170505)
Article History
Received: 19 May 2018
Accepted: 12 February 2019
First Online: 4 March 2019
Authors’ information
: JG and MS are the PIs of this study.JG is a physician, psychiatrist, and has a PhD in psychiatric epidemiology. He is an Associate Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of the University de los Andes (Chile) and currently Head of the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology of the University de los Andes (Chile).MS is a commercial engineer and has a Master’s of Science in marketing and business management. He is the general manager of the San Carlos de Maipo Foundation.LN is a biologist and science teacher and currently the coordinator of school programmes at the San Carlos del Maipo Foundation (Chile).MO is a psychologist and currently the technical assistant of school programmes at the San Carlos del Maipo Foundation (Chile).
: Special attention is paid to ethical issues. All evaluation data has been, and will be, collected according to the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines. Full ethical approval was obtained from the Ethical Committee of Social Sciences at Universidad de los Andes (6 October 2017 (no reference number of this approval has been received)).<i>Consent, informed agreement, and information required for this study</i>Since participation in this study is voluntary, consent will be requested from the parents or guardians of the children in order to participate. The characteristics and objectives of this study will be included in a written document and this information will be provided at parent meetings or in letters delivered through preschool educators. All of the contact information of the main researchers of this study (for example, phone numbers and email addresses) will be provided in order to furnish all possible options for answering questions before, during, and after the study. Parent responses must be signed and returned to the head teacher. In addition, the participants may exit the study at any time. The children will receive information on the study, its characteristics, and implications and will be asked if they agree to participate. The teachers will also receive information on the study, its characteristics, and implications and must provide their written consent in order to participate.<i>Risk analysis and foreseen benefits</i>There are no expected risks associated with this intervention programme or the evaluation tests. Student interventions will be made during the school day at times previously agreed on with the school authorities in order to affect their normal academic activities as little as possible, and the same applies to the student evaluations. Each of these activities will be organised in advance with the authorities of the educational institutions.Potential benefits include the possibility of collecting very detailed information on performance in different areas of development (cognitive and non-cognitive), which can be shared with the parents/guardians if they so request. It is also expected that the interventions will have positive effects on the development of the students and their relationships with their peers, parents, and teachers.The scope of this research could potentially benefit many children in the national community, expanding their possibilities for development, especially in the context of psycho-social vulnerability.<i>Method for preventing invasion of privacy</i>All the data obtained in this study will be managed with strict confidentiality. In all cases, the information collected from the students, parents, and teachers will be handled only by the researchers. The databases created will be stored in an electronic storage system, with a password known only to the researchers. The research team is aware of the potential risks for the participants if this information is used by anyone outside of the research team, so they will be responsible for any confidentiality breaches.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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