Introduction: The present study examined the efficacy of the universal prevention version of the Coping Power Program in reducing behavioral and emotional problems and in promoting prosocial behaviors in middle-school classrooms.
Methods: The study used a randomized control study design; and the sample included 839 middle-school Italian youths (411 males), attending 40 middle-school classrooms. The students were in seventh or eighth grade, and they had an average age of 13.24 years (SD = .65; range 12-14 years). Ninety students were Africans, the rest were Caucasian. Teachers and parents completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, before and after intervention. We used the 24-session universal prevention adaptation of Coping Power, which aims to improve children's emotional regulation and social problem-solving skills.
Results: Linear mixed models and effect sizes indicated that behaviors improved as a result of the Coping Power intervention. Specifically, the program was effective in reducing internalizing problems and increasing prosocial behaviors.
Conclusions: The Coping Power Universal effectively adapts an existing evidence-based program, and is believed to be a useful strategy also to improve social emotional skills in middle-school students.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest John E. Lochman is the co-developer of the Coping Power program and receives royalties from the Oxford University Press for the Coping Power Implementation Guides for the Child Group Program and the Parent Group Program. He is also the PI on grants from NICHD and NIDA, which provide funding for intervention, research on the Coping Power program. Pietro Muratori, Iacopo Bertacchi and Consuelo Giuli are the developers of the CPU and receive royalties from Erikson press for the CPU manuals. All the other authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
(Copyright © 2019 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)