HEMOT®, helmet for EMOTions: A web application for children on earthquake-related emotional prevention

Abstract

The integration between technological devices and educational programs can improve students’ learning experience. This is also true when referring to psychological interventions with children to foster emotional competence in relation to disasters. Therefore, within an interdisciplinary project (PrEmT project, Emotional Prevention and Earthquakes in primary school, in Italian Prevenzione Emotiva e Terremoti nella scuola primaria) we developed the web application HEMOT® (Helmet for EMOTions). HEMOT® includes ten levels aimed at promoting knowledge about earthquakes, safety behaviors, emotions, and emotion regulation strategies. We involved 67 second and fourth-graders in a ten-unit training: During each unit they used a level of the web application and participated to traditional activities. The aim of this study was to explore individual differences in perceived usability and performance using HEMOT®, running Latent Class Growth Analyses. We found two different latent groupings for both usability and performance. However, most of the children gradually perceived a decreasing difficulty using HEMOT® and obtained a good performance across the levels. To sum up, this study described two relevant aspects of a web application developed ad hoc to promote earthquake-related emotional prevention with children. On the whole, HEMOT® respects accessibility and usability criteria and its contents are not too demanding for children: It could be considered a useful and fun method to promote earthquake-related emotional prevention.