FOCUS School-Based Skill-Building Groups: Training and Implementation

Military children encounter unique stressors that can affect their social and emotional well-being. These challenges can serve as a risk to the military child’s successful academic performance. This study fills a much-needed research gap by examining the training and implementation of a public school_based intervention, Families OverComing Under Stress (FOCUS) School-Based Skill-Building Groups (SBGs). Social work interns from 2 academic years (2011_2012 and 2012_2013) were trained in the implementation of the SBGs. The SBGs aim to promote resilience among students from military families. This study reveals positive findings associated with training the interns. Implementation strengths and challenges are carefully reviewed. Suggestions for the need for school-based interventions are also discussed.