This book is a theoretical and practical guide in the field of social skills and social competence, based on decades of experience gained by the authors as researchers and professionals in psychology. The book was written for students and professionals who are involved in some way improving individuals social skills in different contexts, such as clinical, educational, organizational and community settings. The authors present the conceptual foundations, procedures, techniques, strategies and practical guidelines for planning and conducting effective programs aimed to social skills and social competence. In the first part of the book, key concepts and fundamentals on the area are presented, as well as the basic behavioral classes of social skills and their non-verbal and paralinguistic components. The authors also propose a portfolio for the assessment of clients' social skills deficits and strengths to thereby define the aims and procedures of interventions. The second part focuses on guidelines to select and use procedures and techniques for promoting social skills and social competence. The authors present experiential activities that they created in previous interventions and that were tested in their research, showing evidence of effectiveness. Suggestions on how to evaluate participants' repertoires and how to use these ideas in intervention planning are also described.

Finally, in the third part of the book, the authors go further presenting practical guidelines for planning and conducting programs and sessions to promote social skills and social competence, in either group or individual settings.

Autorentext

Almir Del Prette and Zilda A. P. Del Prette are psychology professors in the Graduate Programs (Special Education and Psychology) at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Brazil. They elaborated intervention programs to promote social skills and interpersonal-professional development and strategies based on experiential activities, such as those presented in this book. Both authors have published papers and books on these themes and have constructed and tested instruments for assessing social skills in children, adolescents, and adults. They coordinate the Interpersonal Relations and Social Skills Research Group at UFSCar and organized a national group through the Brazilian National Association of Research and Graduate Studies in Psychology (ANPEPP) to connect researchers who study interpersonal relations and social competence. Their research activities have been funded by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and they have held research productivity grants.