“Thankful to Have Extra Hands!”: Teacher and Counselor Perceptions of External Clinicians' Delivery of Coping Power

ABSTRACT Coping Power is a school‐based treatment for students at risk for aggressive behaviors. Coping Power includes weekly small group lessons delivered during the school day for an entire school year. The feasibility of Coping Power to be implemented and sustained by existing school staff is not well‐known because most of the Coping Power studies to date have had external facilitators (from outside of the school). Therefore, in examining educator perceptions of the Coping Power intervention via a qualitative research methodology, researchers and practitioners can better understand the supports necessary to implement Coping Power effectively and in a feasible, sustained manner. This qualitative study included 15 participants from 7 schools across 2 large districts in the state of Alabama to participate in focus group interviews; Braun and Clarke's (2006; 2012) steps of thematic analysis were used to condense the focus group transcriptions and to formulate themes within the data via In Vivo coding (Saldaña, 2021). The results of the Coping Power focus groups highlight several critical themes that inform the practical considerations for schools who decide to implement the intervention with their own staff rather than via external facilitators. Implications and future directions for research are also included.