"Know thyself"

Socrates

I. What are Life Skills?

The World Health Organization has defined life skills as, "the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life". UNICEF defines life skills as “a behaviour change or behaviour development approach designed to address a balance of three areas: knowledge, attitude and skills”.

The UNICEF definition is based on research evidence that suggests that shifts in risk behaviour are unlikely if knowledge, attitudinal and skills based competency are not addressed.

Life skills are essentially those abilities that help promote mental well-being and competence in young people as they face the realities of life. Most development professionals agree that life skills are generally applied in the context of health and social events. They can be utilized in many content areas: prevention of drug use, sexual violence, teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS prevention and suicide prevention. The definition extends into consumer education, environmental education, peace education or education for development, livelihood and income generation, among others. In short, life skills empower young people to take positive action to protect themselves and promote health and positive social relationships.

II. What are the Core Life Skill Strategies and Techniques?

UNICEF, UNESCO and WHO list the ten core life skill strategies and techniques as: problem solving, critical thinking, effective communication skills, decision-making, creative thinking, interpersonal relationship skills, selfawareness building skills, empathy, and coping with stress and emotions.

Self-awareness, self-esteem and self-confidence are essential tools for understanding one’s strengths and weaknesses. Consequently, the individual is able to discern available opportunities and prepare to face possible threats. This leads to the development of a social awareness of the concerns of one’s family and society. Subsequently, it is possible to identify problems that arise within both the family and society. With life skills, one is able to explore alternatives, weigh pros and cons and make rational decisions in solving each problem or issue as it arises. It also entails being able to establish productive interpersonal relationships with others. T U Module 7: Life Skills 7-3 Life skills enable effective communication, for example, being able to differentiate between hearing and listening and ensuring that messages are transmitted accurately to avoid miscommunication and misinterpretations.

III. What are the Main Components of Life Skills?

Critical thinking skills/Decision-making skills – include decision making/problem solving skills and information gathering skills. The individual must also be skilled at evaluating the future consequences of their present actions and the actions of others. They need to be able to determine alternative solutions and to analyze the influence of their own values and the values of those around them.

Interpersonal/Communication skills – include verbal and non-verbal communication, active listening, and the ability to express feelings and give feed back. Also in this category, are negotiation/refusal skills and assertiveness skills that directly affect ones’ ability to manage conflict. Empathy, which is the ability to listen and understand others’ needs, is also a key interpersonal skill. Teamwork and the ability to cooperate include expressing respect for those around us. Development of this skill set enables the adolescent to be accepted in society. These skills result in the acceptance of social norms that provide the foundation for adult social behaviour.

Coping and self-management skills refers to skills to increase the internal locus of control, so that the individual believes that they can make a difference in the world and affect change. Self esteem, self-awareness, self-evaluation skills and the ability to set goals are also part of the more general category of self-management skills. Anger, grief and anxiety must all be dealt with, and the individual learns to cope loss or trauma. Stress and time management are key, as are positive thinking and relaxation techniques.

UNICEF promotes the understanding that the life skills approach can be successful, if the following are undertaken together:

The Skills - This involves a group of psychosocial and interpersonal skills (described in section 3) which are interlinked with each other. For example, decisionmaking is likely to involve creative and critical thinking components and values analysis.

Content - To effectively influence behaviour, skills must be utilized in a particular content area. “What are we making decisions about?" Learning about decisionmaking will be more meaningful if the content is relevant and remains constant. Such content areas as described could be drug use, HIV/AIDS/STI prevention, suicide prevention or sexual abuse. Whatever the content area, a balance of three elements needs to be considered: knowledge, attitudes and skills.

Methods - Skills-based education cannot occur when there is no interaction among participants. It relies on groups of people to be effective. Interpersonal and psychosocial skills cannot be learned from sitting alone and reading a book. If this approach is to be successful, all three components, life skills, content and method should be in place. This effectively means that life skills can be learnt through the use of certain methods and tools.

IV. Criteria for using Life Skills

UNICEF identifies the following criteria to ensure a successful life skills based education:

It should not only address knowledge and attitude change, but, more importantly, behaviour change.
Traditional "information-based" approaches are generally not sufficient to yield changes in attitudes and behaviours. For example, a lecture on “safe behaviour” will not necessarily lead to the practice of safe behaviour. Therefore, the lecture should be substantiated with exercises and situations where participants can practice safe behaviour and experience its effects. The adult learning theory emphasizes that adults learn best that which they can associate with their experience and practice.
It will work best when augmented or reinforced. If a message is given once, the brain remembers only 10 percent of it one day later, and when the same message is given six times a day, the brain remembers 90 percent of it. Hence the need to repeat, recap, reinforce and review.
It will work best if combined with policy development, access to appropriate health services, community development and media.

V. What are the Core Life Skill Strategies and Techniques?

Developing life skills helps adolescents translate knowledge, attitudes and values into healthy behaviour, such as acquiring the ability to reduce special health risks and adopt healthy behaviour that improve their lives in general (such as planning ahead, career planning, decision-making, and forming positive relationships). The adolescents of today grow up surrounded by an influx of information and misinformation on social media that fuels the war on their mental health. On one hand, they are encouraged to share their entire lives on social media, and on the other, are bombarded with either hateful comments or are subject to the seemingly perfect lives of influencers and others, causing strain on their self image and concept of success. It is through life skills that teenagers can fight these challenges and protect themselves from many mental health-related problems. Hopefully, developing life skills among adolescents will empower young people to engage in constructive thinking and relationships, and encourage adults, especially parents, to listen and respond to young people, and help young people develop positive attitudes and behaviors to thrive in life.

VI. What does Research say about the Outcomes of Life Skills-Based Education?

Programmes aimed at developing life skills have produced the following effects: lessened violent behaviour; increased pro-social behaviour and decreased negative, self-destructive behaviour; increased the ability to plan ahead and choose effective solutions to problems; improved self-image, self-awareness, social and emotional adjustment; increased acquisition of knowledge; improved classroom behaviour; gains in self control and handling of interpersonal problems and coping with anxiety; and improved constructive conflict resolution with peers, impulse control and popularity. Research studies have also shown that sex education based on life skills was more effective in bringing about changes in adolescent contraceptive use; delay in sexual debut; delay in the onset of alcohol and marijuana use and in developing attitudes and behaviour necessary for preventing the continuance of poor mental health.