“Know Yourself” Intervention Program for the Development of Intrapersonal Intelligence in University Students

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to elaborate on an intervention proposal called “Know yourself” based on the development of intrapersonal intelligence and wisdom in university students, in the areas of “Expression and Corporal Communication” (mention of Physical Education) and “Expression, Communication and Creation of motor manifestations” that are relevant for a degree in Primary Education. The sample consisted of a total of 109 participants (M = 22.46; SD = 2.42), 48 men and 58 women. The participants were organized into two groups: n = 59 belonging to the control group and n = 47 to the experimental group. The research process began with the search and review of the existing bibliography, for both general terms and in the university context, in addition to the collection of the sample. Participants were intentionally assigned to the control and experimental groups. A pre-test was performed with the 3D-WS SCALE that evaluates wisdom (affective, reflective, and cognitive dimensions) through a Likert scale, and the results reflected no differences between groups (p > 0.05) for all variables (three dimensions of 3D-WS SCALE and health care), and for this reason, both groups were assessed on a similar level. At a qualitative level, participants were asked about their perception of the intervention and were interviewed through a semi-structured interview at the end of the intervention. Finally, the possible results and benefits of intervention programs are discussed along the same line of study, compared to the present proposal. All the aforementioned steps of the study were conducted with the main purpose of developing interventions with an adequate focus on and a high level of efficiency in the mastery of intra- and interpersonal wisdom crucial for the personal, academic, and social development of university students.

1. Introduction

1.1. Current Influence Requirements

Currently, difficulties pertaining to resilience are evident in the population, resulting in two major health problems in the general population; moreover, they are increasingly prevalent in the young population from an early age [1]. On the one hand, these difficulties are associated with mental disorders, and on the other hand, they are associated with the urgency for self-knowledge and self-management in personal healthcare [2]. The presented study aims to contribute to the prevention of these disorders and the formulation of strategies to promote a healthy lifestyle and acquire habits that enhance mental health in university students [3,4]. There are various mental health disorders observed in young adults (at the university stage), highlighting generalized anxiety and physical and emotional manifestations such as restlessness, nervousness, anguish, anticipatory anxiety, cognitive alteration, etc. A mental disorder “affects mental health and work capacity and productivity” [5]. Furthermore, there is a high prevalence of depression and high levels of stress among the university population [6]. This situation is worrisome as more than 260 million people are estimated to suffer from anxiety disorders [5]. Anxiety affects emotional well-being and has a significant negative impact on quality of life and on academic performance in university students as well [7,8]. There is an urgency to tackle these anxiety-associated problems early and effectively, through the implementation of specific intervention programs designed for young population, as highlighted in various reports. A WHO study maintains that “anxiety prevention and treatment programs in adolescents can reduce the incidence of mental disorders in the long term” [9]. These programs should be designed to provide psychological support and coping skills and should be implemented in all educational settings, including the university setting [4].

1.2. Intra- and Interpersonal Intelligence and Their Influence on Emotional Regulation, Cognitive Development, and Resilience

The work of developing intrapersonal intelligence has a special relevance in the university environment, making it necessary to prepare proposals for its development. Currently, the two most difficult situations that are evident internationally among the young university population are as follows: (a) It has been observed in the classrooms that students exhibit a variety of problems in integrating the curricular contents in a practical and applied way into their learning process. Furthermore, they may have great abilities pertaining to memorizing or retaining information; however, they have low acquisition levels of emotional competencies [10,11], and thus, they show no comprehensive development during the learning process (at cognitive, emotional, and practical levels). (b) The other situation refers to the lack of development and manifestation of personal competencies, such as emotional self-awareness, an optimal level of self-esteem, demonstration of self-discipline, capacity for conflict resolution (dialogue), practice of metacognition and emotional resilience, and introspection, which are aspects that define the main characteristics of intrapersonal intelligence according to González [12]. All of this information indicates that people with high intrapersonal intelligence (II) have self-awareness and introspection and self-evaluation skills and can analyze their own experiences and emotions using the provided information to improve their lives and achieve their goals. They can also set realistic goals and develop strategies to achieve those goals and be more aware of their own thoughts and emotions, acquiring the ability to regulate them and adapt them to different situations. They are also able to resist social pressure and maintain their own identity and personal values [13].

To tackle the first problem, associated with the form and level of student learning, Howard Gardner’s model [14] proposed a solution using multiple intelligences, demonstrating that there is no single type of intelligence, i.e., different abilities and talents are manifested by a person when their capacity for learning and personal, academic, and sociocultural development is stimulated. Intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence are two of the eight multiple intelligences that Gardner describes. The first of them refers to an individual’s ability to understand themselves, their emotions, motivations, strengths, weaknesses, and thoughts. This intelligence also includes the ability to think about oneself and recognize how actions and decisions affect others.

Regarding the development of intrapersonal intelligence, there are other theories that offer a unique understanding of intrapersonal intelligence and add value to personal growth and reflection, promoting the ability to know oneself and reflect on one’s experiences and emotions. There are models of intrapersonal intelligence that emphasize that self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, and personal autonomy are related to success in personal and professional life. Improving intrapersonal intelligence can help in greater management and understanding of emotions and behaviors by focusing on knowledge about oneself and how that perception influences the actions and decisions of one’s mind [15]. A clear understanding of one’s needs and values allows people to take more objective decisions that reflect their identity and principles. According to Sternberg [16], the proposed intrapersonal intelligence model describes people’s ability to understand and regulate their own emotions, thoughts, and motivations, which are essential to achieve personal and professional goals. This intelligence consists of three main skills, i.e., self-awareness, self-regulation, and motivation.

Peter Salovey and John Mayer [17] conducted research on intrapersonal intelligence in the 1990s. They defended the idea that intrapersonal intelligence is a form of intelligence that can be measured and developed with great success [17]. It relates to people’s ability to understand and regulate their own thoughts, feelings, and emotions and how they can use this ability to guide their actions and take effective decisions. Daniel Goleman’s intrapersonal intelligence model [18] consists of four main components, i.e., emotion recognition, emotion easiness, emotion understanding, and emotion regulation. Each of these components is essential and can be developed through education and training.

With the objective of devising a comprehensive approach to “intelligence”, Goleman develops the concept of “interpersonal intelligence” as the cognitive ability related to people’s ability to understand and connect with others. This type of intelligence includes the social need for acquiring the ability to recognize the feelings and needs of others and the ability to establish and maintain positive social relationships. People with high interpersonal intelligence have an excellent ability to communicate effectively, resolve conflicts constructively, have teamwork skills, and lead groups successfully. Interpersonal intelligence is essential for success in both your personal and professional life, as most relationships are usually based on your ability to interact and connect effectively with others. It seems that people with high interpersonal intelligence understand the emotions of those around them, which favors their appropriate responses in social environments. They notice and comprehend non-verbal communication, reading gestures, facial expressions, and the tone of voice, which allows them to accurately interpret the emotions of others [19].

1.3. Emotional Regulation and Its Relationship with Psychological Well-Being

Considering the multifactorial development of a person from an adaptive perspective when facing diverse life experiences, the person’s negative interpretation of some emotional stimuli can indicate threat, especially during social interactions, and the cognitive processing capacity of sadness, anger, etc., and of other emotional information plays a decisive role in the adaptability of an individual in their social life [20,21]. People deal with interpersonal challenges in the academic environment, including the university environment [22] and in several work scenarios. These challenges are real and should be effectively handled by people and their communities.

According to the postulates of developmental science, it seems that there is no exclusive stage in the development of the human being that is more conducive than the one that fosters basic personal capabilities. Working on the basis of knowledge from the biological sciences and human behavior, together with the implementation of intra- and interpersonal problem-solving/conflict resolution in situations, points towards more effective solutions to confront adversity [22]. In this way, emotional regulation can help the performance and improvement of variables such as resilience, which is understood as the process of adapting appropriately (achieving a personal and social balance) in the context of adversity [23]. According to Rutter [24], resilience involves a dynamic interaction between internal and external factors that include, among others, emotional regulation and coping capacity, with improvements in resilience observed due to inter- and intrapersonal intelligence specifically in university students [25]; however, Rutter’s work is applicable to any age [26,27].

1.4. Implementation of Programs for the Development of Intra- and Interpersonal Intelligence in the University Population

Once the theoretical framework has been contextualized, it should be noted that human beings are immersed in an evolutionary leap that will allow greater adaptation, balance, and social equality. It would be evolutionism conceived as a new perspective to understand reality [28]. According to Spencer and his unifying theory of knowledge, he believes in the possibility that all aspects of thought could be combined into a coherent and interconnected system based on the concept of “social evolution”, and for this process to be sustainable, we must promote learning that allows an increase in tools with which human beings can face the process of social evolution [29,30]. Social evolutionary development initially starts from individual evolution, allowing entry and being conscious of the processes of personal consciousness as a fundamental pillar of evolution. This perspective of the process of social evolution needs to be understood as a way to overcome the barrier of competing with equals to be the strongest in society and to understand that the process consists of acquiring wisdom to understand that the challenge is to evolve individually amidst the challenges of the society so as to resolve them. Human beings suffer from their own hindrance to see within and self-contemplate the instructions that others provide them, being unaware of these inner aspects of their own internal functioning. Regardless of this, human beings evolve and adapt to their environment.

On the other hand, there are various studies that indicate the need for preventive measures in university students to minimize anxiety, stress, and mental health along with maladaptive emotions and feelings and help maintain the necessary levels of well-being during the phase of academic development, by implementing effective emotional education programs that covering the period from higher education to their entry into the labor market [31,32].

According to what has been stated in the “know yourself” program, it is based on Stenberg’s intrapersonal intelligence model [16], which deals with the ability to understand and regulate one’s emotions for the future development of the person, and Goleman’s model [18] in relation to interpersonal intelligence, which deals with the social need to be able to recognize necessities and feelings of others. The mentioned program is based on three aspects: (1) learning about oneself and what surrounds an individual under an expansive dimension of actions and interactions with others; (2) increase in a more conscious attitude towards life, promoting human development and knowledge of the world around us and its connections; and (3) contribution to social development through cooperation work and interaction with other people.

Therefore, the main objective of this work is to design a longitudinal intervention protocol for a program called: “Know yourself” focused on undergraduate university students, in order to promote the students’ development of emotional regulation strategies and personal wisdom (at cognitive, reflective, and affective levels), along with a better perception of healthcare. The second objective is to describe the elemental state with respect to the constructs that define intra- and interpersonal intelligence in university students. It is hypothesized that the design of the “Know yourself” intervention program will lay the foundations for knowing the positive impact of work conducted on intrapersonal intelligence using a deep knowledge of cognitive, reflective, and affective areas, as well as with regard to the perception of health and acquisition of emotional regulation strategies in undergraduate university students.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Preliminary Study

2.1.1. Research Design

It is a preliminary descriptive, explanatory study with the application of quantitative and qualitative methodology for data collection. Furthermore, to improve the design of the intervention program and to test its feasibility, a pilot study of the Action Research type (research is carried out at the same time as the intervention) was conducted in an educational and social context [33]. In addition, the design of a future longitudinal intervention program for the improvement of the variables under study is proposed.

In addition, it is proposed that a long-term intervention program should be designed in the near future for the continuous improvement of the studied variables.

2.1.2. Participants

The sample consisted of 109 undergraduate students, 48 men (45.3%) and 58 women (54.7%), aged between 18 and 30 years (M = 22.46; SD = 2.42). Participants were organized in control group (CG), with 59 subjects (55.7%) (M = 22.66; SD = 2.48) that comprised 25 boys and 34 girls, and intervention group (IG), with 47 subjects (24.6%) (M = 22.21; SD = 2.33) that comprised 23 boys and 24 girls, and the participants belonged to the University of Jaén (see

Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants.

Sociodemographic Variable	Characteristics
Gender	Men and Women
Current geographical scope	University students living in Jaén
Degree of the participants	Sports Science
Academic level	1st degree
Academic year	2022/2023
Socioeconomic status	Medium/High

). For the recruitment of the sample, the objective and characteristics of the pilot study were reported (information on what personal wisdom is and how it is developed). The sampling technique applied was non-probability for convenience [34]. The university provided its approval for the development of the pilot study, and the informed consents prior were signed prior to the initiation of the workshop.

2.1.3. Variables and Measurements

Quantitative Values

Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale (3D-WS) [35] is a scale that seeks to measure three dimensions in relation to wisdom and is based on the Ardelt scale (2003) and was validated and translated into Spanish by García-Campayo et al. (2018) [36]. The scale is made up of three subdimensions with a total of 39 items: 14 items for the cognitive dimension (e.g., “I am hesitant about making important decisions after thinking about them”), 12 items for the reflective dimensions (e.g., “When I look back on what has happened to me, I can’t help feeling resentful”), and 13 items for the affective dimension (e.g., “I don’t like to get involved in listening to another person’s problems”). These items are self-rated using five options, and they are scaled from one (strongly agree or definitely true of myself) to five (strongly disagree or not true of myself). The reliability values for this study were 61 (cognitive dimension), 0.62 (affective dimension), and 0.75 (reflective dimension) with the total reliability of 0.80. Furthermore, a question was asked about health care.

2.2. Procedure

First, the researchers informed the center about the study object, and once the center’s consent was obtained, the purpose and phases of program development in which the intervention would be carried out in the “Know yourself” program were explained in the class groups. The ethical values were always considered while conducting human research. This is a preliminary, non-longitudinal program. Its application served to test the accurate effects on the variables under study, as a descriptive knowledge base for the subsequent design of a longitudinal intervention protocol. The present study was endorsed by the Ethics Committee of the University of Jaen (NOV.22/4. PRY).

2.3. Data Analysis

Descriptive analyses of means and typical deviation of the average values of the dimensions of the Wisdom Scale were performed, along with those for variables of “health care”. To know the level of “personal health care”, the average value and standard deviation of the Likert test responses (between 1 and 5) were calculated. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was performed to analyze the normality statistics, using a non-parametric distribution (except for the reflective dimension (p = 0.051), and non-standard procedures were chosen for use, namely, the use of the Mann-Whitney U test. The analyses were performed with the statistical package IBM SPSS 25.0.

Preliminary Descriptive Values of the Study Sample

Table 2. Descriptive values of the study sample.

	Control		Experimental		Total
	M	S.D.	M	S.D.	M	S.D.	Z-Value	p
Affective D.	3.48	0.42	3.50	0.45	3.49	0.43	−0.613	0.540
Reflective D.	3.70	0.56	3.85	0.64	3.76	0.60	−1.507	0.132
Cognitive D.	3.43	0.41	3.45	0.45	3.44	0.43	−0.141	0.888
Healthcare	2.44	0.73	2.68	0.63	2.55	0.69	−1.586	0.113

Note: M = mean; SD = standard deviation.

shows significant differences in the mean values of research groups prior to the intervention. A priori, there are no significant differences in the dimensions of the variable personal wisdom. This indicates the initial normality of the sample.

3. Protocol Study

3.1. Research Design

A longitudinal design of an intervention protocol that precedes a quasi-experimental study with pre- and post-test design, organized into a control group and an experimental or intervention group, is proposed. For the design of the present study, the so-called Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) [37] has been used, as well as the guides of Transparent Reporting of Evaluation with Non-randomized Designs (TREND) [38]. For data collection, a mixed design was carried out combining the collection of quantitative data (psychometric questionnaires) and qualitative data (semi-structured interviews and video analysis). Figure 1 shows the timeline of the development of the intervention in different phases, with different contents and procedures.

3.2. Participants

The sample consisted of 109 university students (the same as the pilot study), 48 men (45.3%) and 58 women (54.7%), with ages between 18 and 30 years (M = 22.46; SD = 2.42). Participants were organized in control group (CG), with 59 subjects (55.7%) (M = 22.66; SD = 2.48) comprising 25 boys and 34 girls, and intervention group (GI), with 47 subjects (24.6%) (M = 22.21; SD = 2.33) comprising 23 boys and 24 girls, and the participants belonged to the University of Jaén (see Table 1).

3.3. Variables and Measurements

The measures referred to in Section 2.3 of preliminary study were included. In addition to these instruments, a series of questionnaires were included that are broadly related to the objective of the study. The inclusion of new psychometric questionnaires was assessed for better data collection of psychological constructs that relate to personal intelligence as mentioned in the introduction, highlighting emotional regulation, resilience, and life satisfaction.

3.3.1. Quantitative Instruments

-

Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale (3D-WS) [39], described in Section 2.1.3.

-

Ad hoc question described in study 1: “How do you think you take care of your health at the level of diet, physical activity, rest and cognitive well-being?” The answer to this question was gradually varied from very low (1) to very high (5).

3.3.2. Qualitative Instruments

-

Diaries: Teachers created a weekly newspaper where they described the experiences lived on the basis of three questions: (a) What activities have been more and less accepted by the students? (b) What will change in the next week in order to improve the intervention? and (c) What is your level of satisfaction from 1 to 10 regarding the results and the development of the sessions you have held?

-

Semi-structured interview: An ad hoc interview was conducted based on the study by Manzano-Sánchez et al. [40], focusing on the teachers involved in the implementation of the intervention: (a) “What are the main benefits you have found in the methodology?”; (b) “What specific aspects have been the most difficult to apply?”; (c) “Have you identified any type of student where it is easier or more difficult to apply the methodology?”; (d) “Do you think the length of the sessions is adequate?”; (e) “What would you change for a future intervention ?”; (f) “Do you think that intrapersonal intelligence is better than traditional teaching in the classroom?”; and (g) “Indicates if you want to add any aspect that has not been previously reflected”.

-

Loyalty: Weekly questions were asked to teachers participating in the implementation of the program. Weekly monitoring of the intervention was carried out by means of the following ad hoc-designed questions, based on the study above, which are reviewed by the lead researchers to provide feedback on how they are developing the intervention: (a) “Do you perceive any appearing circumstances that have made the process more costly this week?”; (b) “How do you think you could improve your process?”; (c) “What level of satisfaction do you feel about how you have carried out the development of the program? say why”; and (d) “How many things have you changed since you began and managed to consolidate in your day to day?”

3.4. Procedure

The intervention was implemented only in the so-called “intervention group”, composed of a total of 47 subjects (group 1 of the participants), and 59 participants were in the “control group”. The control group was composed of a total of two classes where the methodology of the experimental group was not applied and included students of the Degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences of the University of Jaen. On the other hand, the experimental group underwent a total of 12 weeks of the program “Know yourself”. The program consisted of six phases or tasks carried out over 12 weeks, each of which had a basis for the development of personal intelligence (Figure 1).

Before the intervention, the psychometric questionnaires for the collection of information (pre-test) on the variables under study were completed. The questionnaires were computerized with a QR code created in Google docs. The answering of these questionnaires lasted approximately 20 min and took place during class. Again, at the end of the intervention process and before the 6th session, the same questionnaires were administered in order to compare the results at the end of the process. On the other hand, teachers were interviewed at the end of the intervention process after the 12th session with the semi-structured interview indicated in the previous section, thereby adding to this assessment the personal diaries that were collected weekly.

3.5. Phases of the “Know Yourself” Program

Table 3. Session structure and teaching strategies of the “Know yourself” program.

Task	Session and Description	Teaching Strategies	Activities
1st “I choose to be”	1. Awareness raising (75 min.) The teacher welcomes the students by fostering a good classroom environment (enabling interpersonal links). He/she then explains what the student will learn during the session and sets the teaching and educational objectives (according to the level of responsibility to be worked on) so that the students know what is expected of them	Create a commitment to participate in the program (“collaboration contract”) Intrinsic conditions required for the program: - I agree to learn to think—“change the thought”. - I agree to learn to feel about myself. - I accept to align in coherence my thoughts, words, feelings. - I agree to evaluate what I can, have, should, and do know. - I accept to generate contact with what I am looking for—in a causal manner. - I agree to carry out actions associated with purpose and objectives of the program.	- Fill in the pre-test form.Explanation about the program and utility. - Explanation of the requirements and predisposition of each subject to participate in the program. - Commitment to personal participation. - Reflection oriented towards considering the personal situations of application for oneself. - Sharing in small groups and presentation of the conclusions.
2nd, 3rd, and 4th “positioning”	2. Positioning and perspective directed to ourselves (75 min.) Change of situation or perspective that becomes favorable and essential for achieving a contemplative observation of ourselves and the reality that surrounds us. From this observation, it is only allowed to acquire and express appreciations of oneself with respect to the situations that are faced.	A Positioning and perspective directed to us (individually). - Encounter “I AM”—recognize the inner self. - Knowing “I AM”—observation, detection, and approach of oneself. - Accept “I AM”—compassion and understanding. - Learn about “I AM”—coherence and precision in the reality of one’s objectives.	- “The meeting” - “A happy world” - “The raw reality” - “The wheel of life”
	3. Positioning and perspective directed at others (75 min.)	B Positioning and perspective directed towards another (agents distracting one from their purpose). - It allows learning to observe what happens as an external observer. - It allows to provide a wide and global perspective towards the observed events with respect to connections and interrelations (all actions are interrelated to a common intention of cohesion). - It allows providing a meaning to the intention of apparent chaos and individuality of events by asking “Outside of the events that surround me and based on them. what is the intention that pursues everything that happens around the human being?” - It allows one to learn to contribute to what is appropriate for oneself at all times to achieve effective performance. It assesses one’s agreement and synchronicity with apparent chaos.	- “The map of myself” - “Pulling the rope” - “Synectic” - “The spectator”
3rd “Inner silence”	4. Inner silence (75 min) Contemplative attitude that favors the perception towards oneself. Impact of meditation and mindfulness on breathing, with a focus on brain processes and synchronization of both cerebral hemispheres.	Influence of silence in the incessant noise to which our mind is subjected. Mental silence to improve the ability to process more data, make better decisions, and be more creative.	- “Explanation” - “We propose”
4th “Watch within”	5. Distracting agents (75 min) External elements that separate one from their purpose, making the processes hard and coming in the way of personal effectiveness and desired results. From the 4th session onwards, focusing on and recognizing the stimuli that distract us from our objectives.	Observation, detection, and inner approach.	- “Know I am”. - “I love you”. - “it happens around”. - “list of sufferings” - “self-concept”.
	6. Program learning (75 min) Make conscious the unconscious mechanisms of conduct or behavior. Cognitive distortions. Maladaptive interpretations that one can come up with when processing information about events, thereby creating feelings of negative influence on oneself. Cognitive flexibility allows one to adapt to each context, thereby increasing resilience towards obstacles.		- “Development of your life” - “Emotion & feeling” - “Cognitive distortions”
	7. Moral relativity (75 min.) Principles and justification criteria that are used to determine the way of considering actions. Rectification of imbalances in the perception of situations, depending on the person who creates them, should be derived from the teachings so as to develop functioning patterns for one’s benefit. The morality of an action must be well defined regardless of the dimension or shock it produces. The moral response is considered both in actions towards others and towards oneself.		- “Sensationalism” - “Synonym/antonym” - “Self-relativity”
	8. References used (75 min.) Perceptions conditioned by the perspective through which one views reality.		- “Between two worlds” - “attention focus training” - “love or fear”
5th “Accepting yourself”	9. Thoughts, intentions, actions, and objective of the actions (75 min.) The intentions of one’s actions should be recognized. “Thought. Intention. Action”. Basic criteria to be aware of unevenness and understand the modes of action so as to not cause imbalance in thoughts, actions, and responses. Recognition: First, true objective of oneself in a situation should be analyzed. Second, the answer to the following question should be considered: do I approach the objective that I pursue purely based on my emotion? Third, the alternative actions that one can consider are as follows: to. I seek to modify the provoker and attempt to stop exercising influence (this does not produce modification of future situations). b. I seek to modify myself and I will try to understand the internal cause of my reaction, and upon assessing it, I consider what is required to modify my action and learn from it (I wish to evolve).	Compassion and understanding.	- “Accept ‘the I Am Presence’” - “Family” - “emotional dependence” - “couple project” - “the best version” - “I offer” - “order of criteria when making decisions”
	10. Emotion felt after a situation was generated (75 min.)		- “I discriminate” - “letter of forgiveness” - “discussion” - “game of thoughts”
	11. Alternative answers (75 min.)		- “Alternative criterion” Select event stories and create adaptations of the original version: Avoid rivalry—favor discernment. Avoid mental rigidity—favor empathy. Avoid judging—favor compassion. Avoid do-goodism—favor coherence. Detect intent—consider consequence. Perform versions of each adaptation, i.e., “Creating process”.
6th “Modify Answer”	12. Flexibility and response adaptation (75 min.) New forms should be created for new possibilities. Aspects that are not very decisive with respect to action criteria should be considered. The valuation systems focused on ideas of a social nature learned through life experiences should be expanded on. Ideas of greater evolutionary significance should be considered. Effective action criteria for the acquisition of knowledge and for the development of the basis of intrapersonal intelligence should be devised.	Tools to acquire the capacity for self-analysis, responsibility, and autonomy.	- “Learn about I am” - “Correspondence” - “My best wishes” - Fill in the post-test form

describes the methodological development of the sessions of the “Know yourself” intervention protocol.

3.5.1. Teacher Training in the Program

In order to implement the educational “Know yourself” program, it is necessary to incorporate a teacher training program. In this regard, the participants were involved in a training composed of three phases, ensuring initial training and continuous follow-up, and is depicted in

Table 4. Description of the phases and contents of the teacher training program.

Phases	Themes	Actions to Develop
Phase 1: Theoretical training for the intervention group’s teachers.	The intervention program is experienced by teachers who will facilitate it in their student groups.	Completing the intervention program sessions under the supervision and mentorship of the principal investigator.
Phase 2: Experiential training of the intervention group’s teachers.	Training workshop on the methodology of the “Know yourself” program is provided for classroom delivery.	A 2 h workshop is held about the theory and practice of the program in which the material needed is provided on the variables under study, the application schedule, and the type of “psychological climate” of the classroom that must be created through comprehensive strategies together with a “model guide” that describes the different strategies
Phase 3: Mentoring and supervision of teachers who will deliver the intervention program.	Teachers receive continuous advice from the principal investigator.	During the implementation of the program, the principal researcher meets the teachers on a weekly basis (in addition to the teachers, who create a weekly newspaper and answer questions that are reviewed for further feedback). Therefore, each week teachers must submit a form that reflects the adaptation of the program, and the principal investigator thereby provides feedback to teachers as appropriate, providing a report on aspects to clarify and/or modify.

.

3.5.2. Implementation Fidelity

Weekly supervision of the intervention was carried out by the means of the above-mentioned questions in the Section 3.3.2 (loyalty).

Interviews: A qualitative analysis of the responses to the semi-structured interview was conducted for each participating teacher [41], in order to know their experience with the program activity and to determine aspects that could be improved after the intervention. The approximate duration of the interviews was 20 min with a total of seven questions that will refer to the different elements of the intervention.

3.6. Data Analysis

First, the calculation of the sample size calculated with G*power software (version 3.1.9.7) was taken into account [42]. The calculation exhibited an error probability of 0.05 and a statistical power of 0.95. Therefore, the sample with 52 subjects was required to achieve statistically significant differences [43].

The analysis of quantitative data began with the descriptive values of the sample (frequency, percentage, and average) as well as the gender division to check possible differences. Secondly, the analysis was performed to check the normality of the sample by the means of the Kolmorov–Smirnov test with more than 50 subjects [44]. Then, after checking the normal results, a MANOVA (multivariate analysis) of repeated measurements was performed to check the pre-test and post-test of the participants, and the Wilcoxon test was used in the case of abnormal data. The effect size is calculated by quantifying the difference of means between the two measurements in the same group, considering the Cohem values [45] of d where a d value of 0.02 is a “small” effect size, 0.05 is a “medium” effect size, and 0.08 is a “large” effect size.

For semi-structured interviews, excel 2010 was used to include extracted data (Microsoft, Palo Alto, CA, USA). The excel file was opened in the program, Atlas.ti 7.5.4, so that all the information produced by each of the participants can be analyzed. Different codes were created from quotes. These codes were then be grouped into families guiding the data analysis process that began after phase one, where the researcher read interview transcripts and reflective diaries to begin phase two. Transcripts of the interviews were read, and the data was grouped and organized under specific topics and headings informed by the conceptual framework and strategies used in the program. Then, the key phrases were examined, and codes were assigned (shortened data), which were then attached to their indicated family branches to describe the results, ending with a series of summary graphs that highlighted the main results.

4. Discussion and Future Research

The aim of this study was to carry out an intervention protocol called “know-yourself” based on the promotion of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills in university students of the degree in Primary Education (Health and Physical Education) in order to improve their knowledge in healthcare and so that they acquire strategies for emotional management.

According to the main objective, the first aim of the “Know yourself” program was to ensure adequate criteria of validity and reliability using a mixed analysis [46], through the collection of data in both quantitative and qualitative terms, and at the same time, it monitored the participating teachers, thus ensuring the quality of the protocol and its reliability as suggested by other studies [47,48]. In turn, the criteria of the Ethics Committee of the University of Jaen were met, and the use of a control group and an experimental group was considered when checking the data and the validity of the study. The relevance of the program was in the personal and academic characteristics for which it was developed for university students. Similar to the rest of the population, the university population experiences different emotions, such as frustration, competitive pressure, mental health problems, psychological distress, etc., which highlights the importance of intervention in the general population and in students in particular [49,50]. Thus, different authors [51,52,53] have found that university students report high levels of anxiety, and this, in turn, leads to an overuse of drugs for anxiety and sleeping conditions. Based on all of these facts, as Robles et al. [54] and Tang et al. [32] infer that anxiety and depression symptoms seem to be the most common mental health symptoms among the university population, together with other psychiatric and psychopathological problems arising from these mental disorders [32,55,56,57]. In order to overcome mental health problems, the training on psychological variables within the classroom can allow an improvement in aspects such as the reduction in anxiety levels, stress, and depression [6,58]. In turn, the social situation of recent years has generated a high interest in the study of affectivity, emotions, and their regulation, and also on their potential impact on daily life in the university population. The affective state of university students revealed the presence of positive affection with emotional indicators, alerts, and activation [49]. These results are similar to those found in other studies with university samples [59], where these authors have shown that the top ten basic emotions analyzed are interest, joy, security, and admiration. This finding suggests that students are emotionally prepared for academic life, with sufficient resources of interest, motivation, and control to cope with study and curricular contents, with greater wealth and personal satisfaction [60,61,62,63].

This study was based on the work of Artea-ga-Checa et al. [64], and several limitations were observed that call for reflecting on the results generated in this project. The findings are dependent on appropriate design of systematic interventions and programs that help students increase their capacity to develop intrapersonal intelligence, which was the aim of present protocol of intervention, resulting in the formulation of a solid and continuous program that strengthens healthy habits aimed at the evolution of their emotions and mental health. Here, we found a high discrepancy in the application of intervention protocols since some findings showed that improvements in satisfaction and learning were not achieved [65], although other studies showed improvements in creating academic and life satisfaction [66,67,68] and had similar durations of intervention. There are no previous studies where a protocol study based on the development of intra-personal intelligence are performed with a mixed methodology as observed in other intervention studies in university students that usually use quantitative [64] or qualitative [69,70] methods or protocols where data collection is not specified [71].

In addition to the Arteaga-Checa et al.’s program, González Cabanach et al. [72] and Martínez-Lorca et al. [49,73] provided useful information for the design of programs aimed at developing the necessary skills to manage and regulate emotions and prevent and reduce psychological distress, and these programs were able to provide students with the necessary resources to deal with the academic demands and stresses as well as the skills they will need in their future lives. For this purpose, these guidelines are fundamental for the development of the “Know Yourself” program. In the same area of study, there have been investigations or studies that focus on the influence of the teachings of personal development and self-awareness on the wisdom exhibited in cognitive, reflective, and affective spheres, and few authors have conducted studies on this topic [49,50]. The intervention strategy used by the study was aimed at generating a transformation or change in the areas of “Self-knowledge”, “Emotions”, “Relationships”, and “Life Transcendence”, thereby preventing “learned helplessness”. This required a change in the paradigm associated with seeking solutions, answers, and changes beyond oneself. The development of intrapersonal intelligence or personal knowledge is of great relevance and is reflected in the fact that the development of emotional competence has become a significant aspect. In this regard, students should be helped to recognize themselves as human beings and act as such, from the health perspective in this case. For this, one has to foster a good teacher–student relationship, fairness, and trust [74] and promote good physical, mental, and social health for everyone. Therefore, “Know Yourself” is presented as an educational scenario in which students and future teachers can contribute solutions, knowledge, and innovative ideas towards sustainable development goals, mainly those focused on healthy habits, and those in charge and responsible for implementing these objectives should be trained [75]. These objectives5 include ensuring a healthy life and promoting well-being at all ages, as well as guaranteeing an inclusive, equitable, and quality education, thereby innovating and involving the youth from an early age during university and even during job placement in forming healthy habits; moreover, training should be provided to those in charge and responsible for implementing these objectives [75].

Finally, as future work, the hybridization of methodologies that provide an optimal result due to their multiple possibilities [76] can be considered, for example, combining the current intervention with the personal and social responsibility model [77] that has provided very good results in terms of variables related to emotional well-being [27,40] or even interventions where others factors that are deemed to be important for life have been investigated. These factors could be resilience as a capacity to overcome adversity [78], in addition to working towards life satisfaction, a variable that has shown a high correlation with the development of self-awareness [79], which was the main objective of the program. Another possible line of study for the intervention could be to evaluate the influence of age.

5. Conclusions

Higher mean values were observed in the affective, reflective, cognitive, and healthcare dimensions in the intervention group, although no significant intergroup differences were found.

The longitudinal design and implementation of the “know yourself” program could contribute to shifting university teaching towards a new paradigm where the improvement of students’ knowledge is certainly pursued, but also at the same time, the program could encourage and promote educational values, especially self-awareness to achieve life skills and the ability to overcome adversity.

It is a program that can also be applied in any context inside or outside the university environment and not only in the context of a Primary Education degree, but also for other grades and subjects, which makes the scope of this program very interesting for providing support to university and other-levels students for improving their personal and social well-being.