Search for Programs to Help Youth

Intervention

This school-based intervention trains children in generating a variety of solutions to interpersonal problems, considering the consequences of potential solutions, and recognizing thoughts, feelings, and motives that lead to problem situations. The program is appropriate for all children, but it is especially suitable for young (ages 4 and 5), poor, and urban students who may be at the highest risk for behavioral dysfunctions and interpersonal maladjustment. The program was originally designed for use in nursery school and kindergarten, but it has also been successfully implemented through the sixth grade. Throughout the intervention, instructors use pictures, role-playing, puppets, and group interaction to help develop students’ thinking skills. Children’s own lives and problems are used as examples when teachers demonstrate problem-solving techniques.

Evaluation

I Can Problem Solve (ICPS) has been evaluated extensively over the past 20 years. In one early study (study 1), low-income, innercity, African-American nursery and kindergarten children were evaluated over 2 years. Subjects in the 1st year included 113 children (47 boys and 66 girls) trained in ICPS and 106 control children (50 boys and 56 girls). The 131 children still available in kindergarten (year 2) were divided into four groups: 1) twice trained (n=39); once trained, nursery (n=30); once-trained, kindergarten (n=35); and never-trained control (n=27). Researchers collected information on interpersonal cognitive problem-solving measures each year immediately before and following the 12-week intervention, for a total of four assessments.

ICPS was also evaluated in a longitudinal study that included 562 low-income, innercity African-American children (study 2). Children were trained by their kindergarten teachers. Some were retrained by their first grade teachers, and some were retrained by their mothers. All were compared with children who were trained only in kindergarten or never trained at all. The study followed children from kindergarten through fourth grade. Study results were based on peer and independent observer ratings.

In a more recent, independent, randomized, control study (study 3), matched pairs of schools were randomly assigned to either ICPS instruction or control status. The student sample included a total of 226 students, who were assigned to one of three groups: the 2-year ICPS group (n=96) received ICPS instruction for 2 consecutive years; the 1-year ICPS group (n=106) received ICPS instruction for 1 year only in either kindergarten or first grade; and the control group (n=24) received no ICPS instruction. More than 80 percent of the participants in each group were Hispanic. African-American students made up 9 percent of the 2-year instruction group and 5 percent of 1-year instruction group. No control group participants were African-American. Small percentages of participants in each group were white. Each group contained more females than males. Chi-square analyses revealed no significant differences between the groups by race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or gender. Two behavior ratings scales were employed: the Preschool Social Behavior Scale (PSBS) and the Hahnemann Behavior Rating Scale (HBRS).

Outcome

Evaluation results of study 1 demonstrated the following:

• The effects of the nursery intervention last for at least 1 full year without further training.
• For youngsters not trained in nursery, kindergarten is not too late. Kindergarten students scored significantly higher than never-trained controls in both their abilities to generate alternative solutions to problems and in consequential thinking.
• One year of training (either year) is effective in enhancing both cognitive problem-solving and behavioral skills.

The 5-year longitudinal study that compared ICPS students with a control group (study 2) demonstrated that ICPS participants

• Scored better than the control group on all three factors rated by independent observers—impulsiveness, inhibition, and total behavior problems.
• Showed, after kindergarten, fewer high-risk behaviors than never-trained controls.
• Showed improvement in positive, prosocial behaviors and decreases in antisocial behaviors.
• Performed better on standardized achievement tests (this suggests that children whose behavior improved could better concentrate on the task-oriented demands of the classroom).

Study 3 found support for the effectiveness of the ICPS program in increasing prosocial behaviors and in reducing aggressive behaviors. Moreover, there was some evidence to support an additive effect of an additional year of ICPS instruction. In other words, participants receiving 2 years of ICPS instruction showed greater improvements (depending on the construct and measurement employed) than those receiving a single year of instruction. Specifically, ICPS was more effective in increasing prosocial behavior than in decreasing aggressive behavior. The HBRS prosocial behavior subscale showed a 12 percent effect size favoring ICPS instruction. This figure increased to 19 percent when the 1-year ICPS instruction group was excluded from the analysis. Similarly, the PSBS overt and relational aggression subscales showed 3 percent and 4 percent effect sizes, respectively, favoring ICPS instruction. These figures increased to 6 percent and 9 percent when the 1-year ICPS instruction group was excluded from the analysis.

Endorsements

• OJJDP: Blueprints
• SAMHSA: Model Programs
• HHS: Surgeon General
• Department of Education

References

Boyle, Douglas J., and Connie Hassett–Walker. In Press. “Reducing Overt and Relational Aggression Among Young Children: The Results From a 2-Year Outcome Evaluation.” Journal of School Violence.

Kumpfer, Karol L., Rose Alvarado, Connie Tait, and Charles Turner. 2002. “Effectiveness of School-Based Family and Children’s Skills Training for Substance Abuse Prevention Among 6- to 8-Year-Old Rural Children.” Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 16(4S):S65–S71.

Shure, Myrna B. 1984. Problem Solving and Mental Health of 10- to 12-Year-Olds. Final report of research and training. No. MH–35989. Washington, DC: National Institute of Mental Health.

———. 1992a. “I Can Problem Solve (ICPS): An Interpersonal Cognitive Problem Solving Program (Preschool).” Champaign, IL: Research press.

———. 1992b. “I Can Problem Solve (ICPS): An Interpersonal Cognitive Problem Solving Program (Kindergarten/Primary Grades).” Champaign, IL: Research Press.

———. 1992c. “I Can Problem Solve (ICPS): An Interpersonal Cognitive Problem Solving Program (Intermediate Elementary Grades).” Champaign, IL: Research Press.

———. 1993a. “I Can Problem Solve: Interpersonal Cognitive Problem Solving for Young Children.” Early Child Development and Care 96:49–64.

———. 1993b. Interpersonal Problem Solving and Prevention: A Comprehensive Report of Research and Training. No. MH–40801. Washington, DC: National Institute of Mental Health.

———. 1999. “Preventing Violence the Problem Solving Way.” Juvenile Justice Bulletin. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Shure, Myrna B., and George Spivak. 1982. “Interpersonal Problem Solving in Young Children: A Cognitive Approach to Prevention.” American Journal of Community Psychology 10:341–56.

Contact

Myrna B. Shure, Ph.D.
Drexel University, MS 626
245 North 15th Street
Department of Pyschology
Philadelphia, PA 19102–1192
Phone: (215) 762-7205
Fax: (215) 762-8625
E-mail: mshure@drexel.edu
Web site: http://www.researchpress.com/scripts/product.asp?item=4628

Technical Assistance Provider

Myrna B. Shure, Ph.D.
Drexel University, MS 626
245 North 15th Street
Department of Pyschology
Philadelphia, PA 19102–1192
Phone: (215) 762-7205
Fax: (215) 762-8625
E-mail: mshure@drexel.edu
Web site: http://www.thinkingpreteen.com/icps.htm