School Psychology International

This study examined publication output, authorship patterns, citation impact, and international representation across 45 years of articles published in School Psychology International (SPI) and across available years of International Journal of School & Educational Psychology (IJSEP). SPI showed a long-term, relatively stable growth trajectory in articles published per year, with modest fluctuations, whereas IJSEP exhibited a more variable pattern, peaking in articles published in 2019 before declining somewhat. Authorship became increasingly collaborative over time, with the average number of authors per article rising steadily in SPI and remaining consistently higher in IJSEP. SPI articles received higher average citations per article than IJSEP, although citation rates per year were similar across journals. Highly cited SPI articles were predominantly quantitative and focused on bullying and victimization, whereas IJSEP's highly cited articles were more often expository and focused on teacher experiences, professional issues, and student well-being. Across journals, highly cited articles frequently emphasized positive psychology, but none resulted from international collaborations. International collaboration was more prevalent in IJSEP (22.0%) than SPI (15.2%). Across journals, 81 countries were represented by first authors, with increasing international representation driven largely by co-authorship. Although authorship was historically dominated by those from Western European and North American countries, recent declines in rates of authors from these regions—particularly among first authors—suggest a shift toward broader international engagement.

Promoting youth mental health is a global public health priority. However, many evidence-based programs developed in the USA are not widely accessible in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where violence, mental health concerns, and COVID-recovery challenges persist. Adapting such programs requires attention to cultural and contextual factors. Guided by a cultural humility framework, this study presents qualitative findings used to inform the initial contextualization and adaptation of the Coping Power program for use in Mexican middle schools. Originally developed to promote social-emotional skills and reduce aggression and substance use, Coping Power has been implemented internationally but to date, had not yet been adapted. To guide initial adaptations, we conducted focus groups and interviews with 13 teachers in Guadalajara. Focus groups explored teachers’ perceptions of student needs, program relevance, and barriers. Additional follow-up interviews with those who piloted the program in 2024 were analyzed using rapid qualitative methods. Findings highlighted family dynamics and self-management as key socio-emotional needs. Reported barriers included the context of community violence, teacher readiness, and student engagement. These findings underscore the importance of teacher training and context-specific modifications when adapting preventive interventions for LMIC settings.

Asian immigrant families face unique sociocultural challenges that impact their engagement in multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). Despite the increasing presence of Asian immigrants in the United States and other Western countries, educators often lack culturally responsive approaches to effectively engage with these families. Existing strategies to promote family engagement within MTSS (e.g., awareness, involvement, and support) do not adequately address the sociocultural complexities that shape Asian immigrant families’ interactions with schools. Moreover, these strategies risk reinforcing power imbalances by assuming that educators enlighten Asian immigrant families who are less knowledgeable about the system. In response, this conceptual article proposes a cultural humility framework to better engage with Asian immigrant families, by answering what educators should consider about Asian immigrant families (contents) and how educators should approach Asian immigrant families (methods). There are five content-related factors, including home-based educational involvement, high value on academic achievement, social support network, socioeconomic status, and language barriers. The three method-related factors include open awareness, empowered involvement, and respectful support. By integrating these content- and method-related factors, we provide a framework for fostering meaningful partnerships with Asian immigrant families, which can contribute to more inclusive and effective MTSS implementation.

The rates of burnout and mental health concerns among teachers in the United States continue to rise. One area of well-being relates to an educator's ability to connect with students from cultural backgrounds that differ from their own, though some educators may not feel confident in this area . One approach to this skill discrepancy is to increase educators’ cultural humility. Educators who utilize cultural humility feel a high sense of self-efficacy, which buffers against burnout. In this study, we used a nationally recruited sample of N = 888 teachers. Using latent profile analysis, a three-class model was the most parsimonious, with the Culturally Engaged class yielding the highest scores in the areas of mattering, self-efficacy, cultural humility, and multicultural competencies, yet the lowest scores in job satisfaction and highest scores in burnout. Teachers who are between the ages of 25–35, have 6–10 years of experience, , are Black/African American, and indicated they would leave the profession earlier than expected were more likely to be in the Culturally Engaged profile.

Given the current sociopolitical climate surrounding immigration and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) communities ¹ , youth who identify as both immigrant and LGBTQ+ face increased adverse outcomes in society and schools. While mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have shown effectiveness in helping youth in schools manage excessive stress, most existing research overlooks social and cultural factors about the two identities and their intersectionality, which may influence the intervention's effectiveness and acceptability when applied with immigrant LGBTQ+ youth. This conceptual paper reviews immigrant LGBTQ+ youth's experiences in the United States, highlights the need for effective school-based interventions (e.g., MBIs), and proposes implementation strategies within a cultural humility framework that addresses the youth's intersecting identities. Implications for international school professionals are discussed, with the intention of celebrating and empowering these students through more inclusive mindfulness practices.

Bullying victimization significantly affects the physical and mental health of adolescents and has garnered increasing social attention. This study, grounded in the Developmental Assets Framework, employed variable- and individual-centered approaches to construct a structural equation model exploring the relations among parental involvement, social-emotional competence, and adolescent victimization, with consideration of gender differences. A sample of 1,613 adolescents in China was assessed using the Parental Involvement Scale for secondary school students, the Delaware Social-Emotional Competency Scale, and the Olweus Children's Bullying/Victim Questionnaire. Latent profile analysis categorized parental involvement into three levels: low, medium, and high. After controlling for family socioeconomic status, results indicated that parental involvement was weakly and negatively associated with victimization, whereas social-emotional competence showed a more consistent association with lower victimization. Structural equation modeling further suggested that the association between parental involvement and victimization was primarily indirect and related to social-emotional competence. Gender comparisons revealed only small differences in these associations, which should be interpreted with caution. This study suggested that family-related factors may be better understood as distal correlates of adolescent victimization, highlighting the importance of social-emotional competence and peer contexts in prevention efforts.

This introductory article from the guest editors provides the rationale and goals for a theme issue of School Psychology International on the topic of “Cultural Humility in School and Educational Psychology: Implications for Practice.” The nine articles appearing in this theme issue are briefly previewed. The articles draw upon theory as well as data collected across the globe covering different key school constituencies, such as students and teachers. Collectively, these articles advance methodological and conceptual scholarship and shed light on the need for future research, particularly work that further develops and refines measurement tools and helps to clarify ways in which cultural humility principles can be brought to practice effectively with populations across the globe.

Amid regional conflicts and widespread displacement, Arab schools face the challenge of teaching refugee and culturally diverse learners. This study examined how teachers’ cultural humility relates to multicultural teaching, considering the roles of religiosity and teacher agency. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of in-service teachers in Egypt (n = 234), Kuwait (n = 240), and Qatar (n = 214) (N = 688), developing and validating a teacher cultural humility scale alongside established measures of religiosity, agency, and multicultural teaching. Structural equation modeling supported a dual-mediation model; religiosity and teacher agency partly accounted for the association between humility and multicultural teaching, while a direct association remained (partial mediation). Religiosity emerged as the stronger mediator, suggesting that teachers’ moral and spiritual commitments provide a key bridge between humility and practice, complemented by their capacity to act adaptively through agency. Multi-group analyses indicated structural path equivalence across countries. Findings advance theoretical understanding of cultural humility in Arab educational contexts and underscore its practical importance for strengthening multicultural teaching in refugee-hosting schools.

This systematic review examined how universal school-based social emotional learning (USB SEL) programs move across countries and how cultural humility appears when Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD)-developed programs are implemented elsewhere. We conducted a secondary review of 424 publications from Cipriano et al.'s meta-analysis of USB SEL with a control group and a minimum intervention dosage (published from 2008 to 2020). We identified 65 international implementation studies, and patterns were asymmetric: 48 were developed in WEIRD countries and implemented in WEIRD countries, 17 were WEIRD to non-WEIRD, and none originated in non-WEIRD countries. Five cultural-humility attributes across program planning, implementation, and evaluation were coded with a binary scheme for the 17 WEIRD to non-WEIRD studies. Programs were mainly teacher-led, concentrated in elementary/lower-secondary grades; most studies used mostly quasi-experimental designs and generally showed positive social-emotional and behavioral outcomes. Cultural humility was common in planning (openness through learning about local challenges) but limited during implementation and evaluation (rare power-sharing, reciprocal learning, community-facing dissemination, or discussion of how culture and measurement affect program delivery and evaluation). Directions for future research and practice based on study characteristics and cultural humility coding are outlined.

Despite the growing body of autism-focused research, literature centered on understanding the experiences of people with autism and their families has been largely concentrated within Western countries. This study sought to identify the cultural and societal influences that school psychologists working from a cultural humility approach must understand to better support globally diverse children with autism and their families. A semistructured panel discussion with four international autism experts—chosen for their expertise, lived experiences, and efforts to improve support for children with autism and their families in their respective countries of Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan—were qualitatively analyzed using thematic analysis. Three key themes arose, including (a) the importance of understanding the community's knowledge and perceptions of autism; (b) the availability and quality of autism-focused services; and (c) the broader cultural, historical, and societal factors that shape the experiences of individuals with autism and their families. These findings empower school psychologists to deconstruct the lens through which they understand and support globally diverse individuals.

This article explores the complexities of practicing cultural humility as a school psychologist of color, highlighting both barriers and opportunities inherent in this work. Traditionally, school psychologists have been expected to engage in culturally responsive practices, which are rooted in cultural competency framework. However, to effectively diversify the field of school psychology and ensure practitioners are prepared to support diverse students, cultural humility—defined as a lifelong process of self-reflection, learning, and maintaining an “other-oriented” perspective—must be integrated as a foundational and dynamic framework for all training and supervision. While much of the literature emphasizes the practice of cultural humility by White practitioners working with racially and ethnically minoritized groups, limited research addresses how school psychologists of color can and should engage in this practice. Given the unique challenges faced by school psychologists of color, including experiences of race-based stress, cultural taxation, and navigating systematic racism, adopting the same approaches as White school psychologists may be inadequate or even harmful. Drawing from the lived experiences of the authors, both women of color, the article presents practical case studies in the form of testimonios and offers actionable recommendations for school psychologists of color and those who train and support them. In doing so, it aims to promote more nuanced, equitable, and sustainable approaches for fostering cultural humility in the field of school psychology.

The relationships, culture, and knowledge-making of minoritized communities are what inform transformative, culturally responsive, and sustaining solutions to addressing students’ social, emotional, and academic development. For researchers in educational and school psychology, initiating and sustaining relationships with communities can be a particular challenge, especially in the context of university expectations. The purpose of this paper is to highlight how cultural humility must be the foundation for meaningful and authentic community-based research that could lead to culturally sustaining and valid practices. The article includes a discussion of the fundamental importance of relationality in this type of research and provides specific examples of how researchers have initiated and established community-based research partnerships through cultural humility.

Despite high rates of mental health need, racial and ethnic minoritized (REM) youth are much more likely than their White peers to prematurely drop out of mental health treatment. Culturally tailored and flexible engagement models to improve mental health treatment retention among REM youth could begin to address longstanding treatment engagement disparities by race and ethnicity. Strategic Treatment Assessment for Youth (STAY) is a theoretically driven, culturally tailored measurement-based care (MBC) approach to treatment engagement for REM youth. A core aspect of this intervention is a cultural humility training for school and community clinicians who serve REM youth. This paper describes STAY, with a particular focus on its cultural humility component. Specifically, we discuss how the cultural humility approach was developed and highlight the role cultural humility plays within STAY. Finally, we discuss current refinement and piloting efforts to improve and examine the STAY intervention and cultural humility training, and future directions to use STAY in school and community settings.

Cultural humility offers a framework for promoting equity and guiding personal and professional growth in school psychology practice. The presence of cultural humility in supervision can enhance the supervisory relationship and improve client outcomes. This article reviews relevant literature and presents practical strategies for embedding cultural humility into school psychology supervision. Drawing on established multicultural training models to promote self-awareness, knowledge, and skills, we present actionable strategies supervisors can use throughout the supervisory relationship.

The Bounce Back for Classrooms (BBC) program was originally developed for Native American youth in Montana to increase awareness of the effects of trauma and build skills to promote resilience. This study employs cultural humility to inform adaptations to BBC for implementation in an urban, Mid-Atlantic school district serving predominantly African American/Black and Hispanic/Latine students. We applied the ecological validity model and reported adaptations using the Framework for Modification and Adaptation—Enhanced. We examined: (a) teacher and clinician perspectives on the cultural relevance of BBC and (b) changes in cultural relevance throughout implementation. We used a multi-method approach to analyze quantitative and qualitative data collected from nine clinicians and 22 teachers from second through sixth grade at 10 different schools across the 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 school years. Results suggest clinicians and teachers held favorable views of the fit and cultural relevance of BBC with improvement between the two years. Teachers’ ratings on cultural relevance were significantly higher (more relevant) than clinicians’ ratings. Most clinicians made some level of modification to BBC lessons during implementation, addressing length, sequence, classroom management approach, format, literacy level, and to provide culturally relevant examples and resources. Limitations and future directions for school psychologists are considered.

Targeted school-based programs seem to be a promising approach to help adolescents in need. Nevertheless, successful implementation and evaluation of such programs is challenging. However, there is limited knowledge about (overcoming) the challenges of implementation and experimental evaluation of school-based programs. The goal of the present paper is, therefore, to improve future research by describing the challenges encountered and lessons learned during two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to study the effectiveness of two skills-training programs reducing school or social stress. In this way, we aim to inform others who plan to implement and evaluate such programs in schools using an RCT design. Some of the challenges encountered apply to all effectiveness studies, such as the recruitment and retention of participants; others are more “intervention at school” specific, such as scheduling the programs and assessments. Our experiences show that it is possible to effectively implement and evaluate targeted programs promoting adolescent mental health in secondary schools with RCTs, even during a worldwide health pandemic, but that it requires investing sufficient time in keeping close and regular contact as well as clear communication between the involved parties. Moreover, high levels of flexibility are needed in adjusting scheduled meetings for intervention and research while keeping track of the entire process for each school and individual participant.

The evidence-based parenting program Video-Feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) may have potential to also support teachers in primary schools in their interaction with children with behavior problems. We therefore adapted the intervention for use with primary school teachers (VIPP-School). Here we examined the feasibility of VIPP-School, using qualitative analyses of the perceptions of teachers and VIPP-interveners on their experiences with VIPP-School. Three teacher-child dyads from kindergarten and 2^nd grade participated in six sessions of VIPP-School. Perceptions of the participants were collected using semi-structured interviews, logbooks, observations and a questionnaire. The data were qualitatively analysed. Thematic analysis showed five main themes: 1) scheduling of appointments, 2) experiences with intervention elements, 3) working alliance, 4) changes in the teacher-child interaction, 5) defining the target group. Teachers mentioned notable time investment, but appreciated the video feedback as a great way to become more aware of subtle signals of the child and their own behaviors. This study shows that with some adaptations VIPP-School is an acceptable and deliverable intervention for teachers in primary education. It has potential for supporting teachers in the interaction with children with behavioral problems. Further research on the effectiveness of VIPP-School is recommended.