Recently, Indian people from the United States and Canada recommended coping-skills training for American Indians, to help in handling stress, becoming self-determined, being assertive, problem solving, and redesigning social roles and support systems. Some 30 tribal groups and agencies participated in a cultural adaptation of an assertive coping-skills training intervention program for a year. The general themes of coping, self-determination, and communication were reflected in the ultimate program goal, which was competence in a biculturally appropriate lifestyle. Brainstorming of program goals among community members provided the cultural input necessary for designing instructional methods and for assessing culturally-determined perceptions of the personal growth process. Formal and informal modeling provided a variety of Indian coping models enacting assertive behavior in several Indian and non-Indian social, family, and business settings. Indian and non-Indian persons rated 24 pre-training and 24 post-training role play scenes by 6 participants to determine whether relevant and noticeable change had taken place. Results indicated that the cultural adaptation of social skills training appeared to be more effective for American Indians than traditional psychological approaches. (CM)