Effects of a non-instructional prosocial intervention program on children’s metacognition skills and quality of life

•A non-instruction prosocial experience intervention program.•Investigating children’s quality of life and metacognitive skills.•Child-centered approach, and their well-being are discussed.

This preliminary study aimed to investigate the relationship between a non-instructional prosocial experience (helping others) intervention program and children’s metacognition and quality of life in a school setting. During the 10 week intervention the children sat goals concerning helping others (planning), helped each other (acting) and evaluated their own performance (self-evaluation). Overall results showed that children’s overall quality of life and self-esteem were significantly higher after intervention compared to before. No changes on metacognitive skills were found; however, evaluating girls and boys independently, boys scored significantly higher on evaluation of metacognitive awareness after the intervention compared to before. The importance of supporting student́s prosocial experience and self-evaluation at school are discussed.