Addressing Student Trauma and Loss: An Evaluation of Two School-Based Treatment Models

Abstract School-based interventions designed to meet the needs of students exposed to trauma, including Bounce Back (BB; grades K–5) and Support for Students Exposed to Trauma (SSET; grades 6–12), are promising but underresearched. This study used a single-group, pretest–posttest design to examine intervention effects of BB and SSET on primary and secondary school students’ trauma symptoms, positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, and disciplinary incidents in a school system in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Trained school counselors delivered the interventions to cohorts of eligible students from a single school system enrolled in either BB (N = 102) or SSET (N = 120) over three academic years. From pre- to posttreatment, students’ trauma symptoms were significantly reduced and their positive affect significantly improved following both BB and SSET. There were also significant improvements in students’ negative affect and life satisfaction following SSET. SSET had no significant effect on discipline referral rates in the year after treatment. Study findings underscore BB and SSET as valuable school-based approaches for addressing trauma-related symptoms in students.