Resumen de Effectiveness of Social Skills Training experiential method to strengthening social self efficacy of university students

Fabián Orlando Olaz, Leonardo Adrián Medrano, Gabriela A. Cabanillas

• Interpersonal difficulties significantly diminish quality of life and psychological well-being among university students, so that possession of an appropriate repertoire of social skills is crucial for personal and professional development. In this sense, we highlight the importance of formal training devices designed to promote social behavior development in the university population as well as systematic studies to assess the efficacy and clinical utility of such interventions. In the present study, we examine the impact of two types of training, one instructional and another experiential, on social self-efficacy beliefs, which constitute a key antecedent to behavior change and the main promoter of competent social behavior. The results suggest that the experiential training further strenghten the social self efficacy beliefs of university students. We concluded that the greater effectiveness of experiential training comes from the utilization of experiences of achievement based on the actual implementation of social behaviors, while allowing the approach of personal, behavioral and environmental conditions in the same activity