Coping Power-Rural: A Pilot Study of the Two-Tiered Preventive Intervention Focused on Addressing Transdiagnostic Needs in Rural Schools

Abstract This paper reports initial findings from a pilot study of the Coping Power- Rural program with upper elementary and middle school students, which was created to meet the specific needs of rural populations. Coping Power- Rural included adapted content to ensure it was relevant and accessible to students and teachers in rural schools. The program followed a two-tiered delivery format, incorporating both universal classroom sessions as well as targeted group sessions. The program also promoted skill generalization across contexts (e.g., school and home settings) through a flexible, technology-enhanced caregiver component, which provided caregivers with remote access to resources and supports. Building on prior feasibility and acceptability work (Nguyen et al. in Sch Ment Health 16:776–792, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-024-09632-2 ), this pilot study reports pre-post contrast testing of the Coping Power- Rural program in six rural schools across three states, involving 185 students (grades 4–7; 55.1% male; 43.2% Black; 7.6% Latine) and 48 school-based staff. The pre-post pilot outcomes indicated significant improvements in student conduct problems, aggressive/disruptive behavior, prosocial behavior, emotion regulation problems, internalizing problems, family stability, and family involvement from pretest to posttest ( p < 0.05; Cohen’s d s ranged from 0.20 to 0.48). There were also significant pre-post improvements for youth who participated in the targeted group on several teacher-reported outcomes (e.g., greater reductions in aggressive/disruptive behavior, emotion regulation problems, internalizing problems). These pre-post pilot findings provide promising evidence regarding outcomes for students based on exposure to the classroom Coping Power- Rural sessions, as well as for students in the targeted group.