International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience
Open Access

Case Report

Ten Years of Choices in Portugal: Four Generations, a Real Resilient Opportunity

Margarida Gaspar de Matos, PhD^1,2*, Celeste Simões, PhD^1,2, Isa Figueira, MSc¹, Pedro Calado³

¹Social Adventure Project, University of Lisbon

²Centre for Malaria and Tropical Diseases

³Director of Escolhas (“CHOICES”) Programme, Lisbon, Portugal

*Corresponding Author:

Margarida Gaspar de Matos, PhD
E-mail: aventurasocial@gmail.com

?Escolhas? (?Choices?) is a Portuguese programme that aims to promote children and youth social inclusion in deprived socioeconomic contexts. The present study aims to identify internal and external resources perceived by children and adolescents that participated in the programme, to understand the impact in life contexts, and to identify the resources nominated by their family, project professionals and partners. A qualitative method was used in order to analyze 365 discourses from four different groups: children and adolescents (149), family (40), project professionals (126) and project partners (50). The model used was Benard's Conceptual Model for Resilience and Youth Development. The conclusions highlight the success and relevance of Programa Escolhas (?CHOICES?) regarding the children and the adolescents and their families, by promoting social inclusion in deprived socioeconomic contexts.

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