Educational interventions for the development of socio-emotional skills in dental professionals

Introduction: socio-emotional competencies are essential in the training of dental professionals, influencing their well-being, academic performance, and quality of care. However, their development presents curricular, teaching, and evaluative weaknesses that require contextualized scientific solutions.Objective: to critically analyze educational interventions for the development of socio-emotional competencies in dental professionals, considering evidence published between 2020 and 2025.Method: a search was conducted in databases (PubMed, PubMed Central, SciELO, Scopus, BioMed Central Medical Education, Dentistry Journal, Google Scholar). Thirty-eight open-access studies were consulted, according to descriptors defined in Spanish and English, and 16 were selected that documented educational interventions for the development of socio-emotional competencies in dental professionals or in other health sciences. These were analyzed using a structured narrative synthesis and organized by type of intervention.Development: four types of educational interventions were identified: emotional intelligence workshops, curricular integration of socio-emotional competencies, self-care and stress management programs, and tutoring with a socio-emotional focus. All showed improvements in self-awareness, emotional self-regulation, interpersonal regulation, and empathy. However, they share conceptual, methodological, and contextual limitations.Conclusions: the review confirms the need to incorporate socio-emotional competencies into curricula, train teachers as role models, and promote longitudinal research that links these competencies with clinical outcomes and patient experience. The main contribution is the identification of challenges and the proposal of recommendations to ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of educational interventions in the Cuban context.