Implementing Coping Power Adapted as a Universal Prevention Program in Italian Primary Schools: a Randomized Control Trial

Abstract

Behavioral problems in schools can cause serious harm to the emotional and social well-being of students and limit their ability to achieve their full academic potential. A prior pilot study on the universal application of Coping Power showed a significant decrease in the hyperactivity behaviors of five classes. The next step was to test whether Coping Power Universal could be successfully implemented by teachers in a variety of Italian schools. The sample involved 40 third- and fourth-grade classes (901 students) from public schools located in three Italian cities. Twenty classes were randomly assigned to Coping Power Universal, and 20 classes were randomly assigned to the control group, which received the strictly standard academic curriculum of Italian elementary schools. At each assessment period, the teachers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The findings showed a significant reduction in hyperactive and inattention behaviors and conduct problems and emotional symptoms in the intervention classes compared with the control classes. This study suggests that Coping Power model can be delivered in school settings at both universal and targeted prevention levels and that in this multi-tiered prevention model, teachers can learn a set of intervention skills which can be delivered with flexibility, thus reducing some of the complexity and costs of schools using multiple interventions.

Universal Coping Power for pre-schoolers: Effects on children's behavioral difficulties and pre-academic skills

“…Considering our experience, we can suggest that it is possible to adapt some aspects of evidence-based curricula to the national culture. Importantly, these adaptations must be related to the principles of the original model, if not, the adaptations would change the very nature of the intervention (Muratori et al., 2017b).…”

“…Two previous studies indicated that the CPU could reduce behavioral problems in primary school classes (Muratori et al., 2015, 2017b). Although previous evidence showed positive results for the CPU in elementary school, it could be important to intervene earlier.…”

One Year Follow Up Efficacy of the Coping Power Universal and Its Relations with Teachers’ Occupational Stress

“…The CPU intervention manual describes each lesson, though teachers were free to adapt the activities to the characteristics of their students. A more detailed description of the CPU activities is reported in previous studies, see for instance [4,8].…”

“…A wealth of studies has recognized the CPU's positive effects, including reducing behavioral problems, improving prosocial behavior, and academic skills [4][5][6][7][8], to the point that it was included in the Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development's list of certified promising programs. However, to date, only a study has tested whether the positive effects of the CPU are maintained in the long term [8]. Despite the promising results of this previous work, more studies investigating whether the CPU can yield long-lasting effects are needed.…”

An update on social and emotional learning outcome research

“…However, a lag time of a few years is typical of meta-analysis, given the amount of time it takes to survey and collect the existing research studies, do the analyses, conduct the peer review process, and go through the usual publication timeline. It is worth noting, though, that individual studies appearing up through at least the fall of 2017 have continued to report positive effects for SEL (e.g., Duncan et al, 2017;Miller et al, 2017;Muratori et al, 2017).…”