Problem-solving program shows promise for Chilean preschoolers in pilot trial

A culturally adapted version of the I Can Problem Solve (ICPS) program was feasible and acceptable when delivered in preschools serving vulnerable communities in Santiago, Chile, according to a pilot three-arm randomized controlled trial published in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health. The study, led by Jorge Gaete and colleagues, was designed not to establish effectiveness but to test whether the intervention could be implemented successfully in this setting and to gather preliminary signals of its effects on children’s development.

Mental health disorders often begin early in life and are disproportionately prevalent among children in low-resource settings. School-based social-emotional learning programs have shown promise in promoting cognitive and emotional skills in young children, yet few have been culturally adapted and evaluated in Latin America. The researchers therefore adapted ICPS for the Chilean context and approached schools in four municipalities of Santiago. Ten schools were randomized to one of three conditions: ICPS delivered by internal early educators from within each school, ICPS delivered by external early educators, or a control group. One school withdrew after allocation but before baseline assessment and intervention delivery, leaving nine schools to enter the implementation phase and complete the study.

The intervention consisted of 59 sessions delivered over five to six months. A total of 234 preschoolers participated, representing 83 percent of those eligible, and 84 percent completed post-intervention assessments. The primary outcomes were feasibility, acceptability, and implementation fidelity, while secondary outcomes included executive functioning, emotion recognition, social problem-solving, and psychological functioning.

Feasibility results differed notably by delivery model. Implementation fidelity, however, was high across both conditions, with slightly higher scores among external facilitators, indicating that when internal staff did deliver sessions, they generally adhered closely to the protocol.

Acceptability was strong across stakeholders. Eighty percent of children reported enjoying the program, and more than 75 percent of teachers rated it positively. Most parents, 88 percent, were aware of the program, and more than one-third reported behavioral improvements in their children. These figures suggest that a structured social problem-solving curriculum can fit comfortably into the routines of Chilean preschools and attract support from the adults surrounding the children.

Preliminary outcome analyses pointed to early signals of benefit, though the authors frame these as tentative given the pilot design. Children taught by internal facilitators showed significant gains in executive functioning, with an estimated effect of β = 6.26 (95 percent confidence interval 2.16 to 10.35, p = .008). Modest improvements were also observed in emotion recognition and social problem-solving. Parent- and teacher-rated difficulties measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire showed small reductions over time. Because the trial was small and unpowered for these secondary outcomes, the results should be read as hypothesis-generating rather than as proof of effectiveness.

The study’s structure deserves emphasis when interpreting the findings. With nine schools in the implementation phase, the comparison between internal and external facilitators and the control group cannot support firm causal conclusions about which delivery model works best or how large the program’s effects are. The significant executive functioning result in the internal-facilitator arm, in particular, will need replication in a larger sample before any confident claim can be made. What the trial does establish is that the adapted program could be run at high fidelity, that children and teachers embraced it, and that assessment procedures worked well enough for most eligible children to be enrolled and most participants to complete follow-up.

The authors conclude that the ICPS program was feasible and acceptable in this Chilean preschool context, with early signals of effectiveness in key developmental domains. They argue that these findings support further evaluation through a fully powered trial and suggest that culturally adapted social-emotional learning programs may be a viable strategy to promote early mental health in socio-economically vulnerable settings.

Subject of Research: A pilot randomized controlled trial of the culturally adapted I Can Problem Solve social-emotional learning program in Chilean preschools

Article Title: Acceptability and feasibility of implementing the I Can Problem Solve (ICPS) program among preschoolers in Chile: results of a pilot randomised controlled trial

Article References: Gaete, J., Ríos, N., Salgado, G., & Nejaz, L. (2026). Acceptability and feasibility of implementing the I Can Problem Solve (ICPS) program among preschoolers in Chile: results of a pilot randomised controlled trial. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-026-01178-2

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s13034-026-01178-2

Keywords: I Can Problem Solve, preschool children, Chile, social-emotional learning, randomized controlled trial, feasibility, acceptability, executive functioning, mental health prevention, early childhood education, implementing, Problem