Preliminary investigation of a novel internet-based aggression prevention program for youth

Coping Power is one of the few empirically supported school-based cognitive-behavior interventions available for children at risk for aggression and associated problems. Although effective, the traditional CP program requires a substantial face-to-face participation commitment from children and parents, creating client engagement and maintenance obstacles to implementation. Furthermore, while school settings provide advantages for service delivery to high-risk youth, intervention demands on student and staff time limit their dissemination and implementation and thus public health impact. Therefore, there is a need to develop less resource-demanding yet effective school-based interventions for at-risk children. An internet-predominant version of CP (CP-PI) was recently piloted on a small sample of at-risk youth (N = 6). Although CP-PI appeared to reduce aggressive behaviors, the small sample precluded statistical analysis, and intervention adherence issues arose. The current study thus had four overarching aims: (1) to assess the preliminary efficacy of CP-PI by comparing it against a waitlist control condition using a larger sample (N = 40) and randomized controlled trial (RCT) design that attempts to minimize adherence issues and measure impact on functional subtypes of aggression (proactive/reactive), (2) to consider potential predictors of intervention process and outcome, (3) to measure CP-PI feasibility, and (4) to assess process variables and their relation to intervention outcomes. This study provides preliminary evidence that CP-PI can be implemented effectively in schools, reduces proactive but not reactive child aggression, and that certain variables may influence intervention process and outcome.