Implementing Coping Power-Rural in Schools

Coping Power-Rural (CP-R) is a school-based program designed to prevent behavioral and mental health problems through enhancing social and emotional learning outcomes using a Tier-1 universal and Tier-2 small group implementation structure. When adapting the original evidence-based program for rural elementary and middle schools, it was essential to incorporate implementer feedback to improve the program’s usability, feasibility, and social validity for these contexts. This chapter provides an overview of the rationale for adapting the original Coping Power program into a program for rural schools, along with a summary of the unique two-tier structure. The authors then provide two case studies from the perspective of two implementers in rural schools who share their experiences with implementing CP-R. The authors summarize a set of subsequent adaptations that were made to the program based on their feedback, along with recommendations for other program developers working in rural schools with similar social and emotional programs aiming to address the behavioral and mental health concerns of rural students.