Improved Resilience and Academics Following A School-based Resilience Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial

ABSTRACT Enhancing resilience is valuable to youth from economically marginalized communities given that they often face greater challenges and hardships than their peers from more affluent communities. Efforts to increase resilience skills in these youth are hampered because they disproportionately encounter barriers in access to mental health interventions. Implementing school-based services may be optimal to address these inequalities. This project explores the effectiveness of a school-based group intervention (the Resilience Builder Program®) related to resilience and academic functioning in a sample of children from economically marginalized communities. Students (N = 169) with social-emotional difficulties were recruited from five elementary schools and randomly assigned to participate in the Resilience Builder Program® (RBP) immediately or following a semester delay. Participants, their parents, and teachers completed measures of resilience (BASC-2, RSCA) and academic functioning (ACES). Results found a significant relationship between resilience and stronger academic functioning (i.e., engagement and motivation). RBP participants, their parents, and teachers reported greater increases in resilience compared to the delay group. Teachers reported significant increases in students’ study skills, academic engagement, interpersonal skills, and academic motivation compared to the delay group. RBP participants reported significantly greater study skills and academic engagement, compared to the delay group. Findings indicate school-based RBP effectively promotes resilience skills and academic functioning in children who often face significant barriers to accessing mental health care.