Abstract
The present study investigates the effect of an interactive primary prevention intervention on
elementary school students’ resiliency behaviors. A total of 106 rural Missouri, USA students in
an after-school program received the Forest Friends curriculum once a week for thirty minutes
during their regularly-scheduled drug education session. During the month-long intervention,
puppets were used to teach general life skills including resiliency and coping related to substance
abuse and violence. A self-reported 18-question pre/post-test was used to assess the resiliency
subscale categories of Feelings, Honesty/Trust, Respect, Pride, Choices, and Talent. Independent
t-tests were used to compare the pre/post scores of the intervention. Statistically significant
improvements were found in overall behaviors linked to resilience among the participants in this
study, as well as several of the specific skill subscales (Choices & Talent). The current study
showed that the Forest Friends curriculum is an effective intervention method for building various
resiliency skills in elementary-aged youth through hands-on learning.
Darson Rhodes, Karl Larson, Patrick Herbert. (2018) Effect of a Primary Prevention Intervention on Resilience of Elementary-Aged Students, Journal of Elementary Education, Volume-28, Issue-1.
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