Employing cultural humility to adapt a classroom-based trauma-focused prevention program

The Bounce Back for Classrooms (BBC) program was originally developed for Native American youth in Montana to increase awareness of the effects of trauma and build skills to promote resilience. This study employs cultural humility to inform adaptations to BBC for implementation in an urban, Mid-Atlantic school district serving predominantly African American/Black and Hispanic/Latine students. We applied the ecological validity model and reported adaptations using the Framework for Modification and Adaptation—Enhanced. We examined: (a) teacher and clinician perspectives on the cultural relevance of BBC and (b) changes in cultural relevance throughout implementation. We used a multi-method approach to analyze quantitative and qualitative data collected from nine clinicians and 22 teachers from second through sixth grade at 10 different schools across the 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 school years. Results suggest clinicians and teachers held favorable views of the fit and cultural relevance of BBC with improvement between the two years. Teachers’ ratings on cultural relevance were significantly higher (more relevant) than clinicians’ ratings. Most clinicians made some level of modification to BBC lessons during implementation, addressing length, sequence, classroom management approach, format, literacy level, and to provide culturally relevant examples and resources. Limitations and future directions for school psychologists are considered.