Evaluation of the Courage and Confidence Mentor Program as a Tier 2 Intervention for Middle School Students with Identified Internalizing Problems

Internalizing disorders among youths represent a significant public health concern due to associated risk for future psychopathology, physical health costs, and the likelihood that affected children will experience difficulty transitioning to adult life. Despite the troubling aspects of internalizing disorders, there is a dearth of selective, Tier 2 interventions that educators can implement for students with identified internalizing problems as part of their school’s multi-tiered system of support. To fill this void, the purpose this study was to evaluate the efficacy, acceptability, and integrity of a structured mentor-based program, the Courage and Confidence Mentor Program (CCMP), which represented a modified version of the Check-In/Check-out program. Single-case experimental methods, consisting of a multiple baseline across participants design, were used to evaluate the efficacy of the CCMP with five students. The results of visual analysis and single-case effect size estimates revealed that all participants demonstrated noticeable reductions in internalizing problems as measured by self-ratings of subjective units of discomfort and teacher reports on a standardized behavior rating scale. Limitations of the methods and directions for future research involving Tier 2 interventions for students with internalizing problems are discussed.