The Promoting Resilience in Stress Management (PRISM) program for elementary school Students: A pilot study

Feasible, evidenced-based programs are needed to build resilience and reduce stress for elementary-aged students. The Promoting Resilience in Stress Management (PRISM) program is an empirically-based resilience-building program originally designed for adolescents and young adults. This pilot study aimed to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and exploratory efficacy of PRISM for elementary-aged students (PRISM-Kids). PRISM-Kids is a manualized, skills-based intervention program that teaches stress management, goal setting, reframing, and meaning-making. PRISM-Kids was delivered in five 30-60 min sessions, approximately 1 week apart. Eligible students were in grades 3–5 and English-speaking. Students were recruited from a Washington State elementary school using purposive sampling. Parents of enrolled students were also offered participation in a follow-up interview. The study assessed feasibility, defined a priori as an 80 % completion rate. Acceptability was assessed via participant interviews using thematic analysis. Exploratory efficacy was assessed by pre- and post-resilience scores as measured with the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10). Twenty-one students and parents were enrolled (students: 72 % male, 71 % non-Hispanic white, 14 % Asian, and 15 % other; parents: 100 % mothers). Twenty completed all 5 sessions. Feedback indicated high satisfaction with content and delivery; 100 % recommended this program. Exploratory efficacy results showed a significant increase in resilience scores, from a baseline mean CD-RISC-10 score of 22.3 (SD = 6.0) to a post-program score of 28.1 (SD = 5.7), p = 0.004. PRISM-Kids is a promising, feasible, and acceptable intervention for building resilience in elementary-aged children. Future research should examine the efficacy of PRISM-Kids in larger, diverse populations to further validate its effectiveness as a resilience-building tool in schools.