Aggression toward teachers, interaction with school shooting media, and secondary trauma: Lockdown drills as moderator

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was first to investigate whether both teacher‐reported classroom aggression (ATT) and teachers’ interaction with school shooting media (ISSM) are predictors of teachers’ secondary trauma related to school shootings (STSS) and to second, consider how participation in lockdown drills may moderate these relationships. Two measures were created to understand the levels of aggression teachers report occurs in their classrooms and to understand how teachers interact with media related to school shootings. Both ISSM and ATT were associated with higher levels of STSS. Lockdown drills did not appear to interact with these relationships to either strengthen or weaken them. Considering the importance of teachers’ well‐being and how it influences their ability to be effective teachers, continued investigation is warranted.

Mitigating secondary traumatic stress in preservice educators: A pilot study on the role of trauma‐informed practice seminars

“…Teacher STS research is nascent and minimal in the field of education and attends to educators that are in classrooms. The pilot data showed an interesting difference seen in the research on teachers (Borntrager et al, 2012; Motta, 2012; Stevens et al, 2020). Preservice educators were experiencing drastically lower levels of STS than what was found in studies with classroom teachers.…”

“…F I G U R E 5 STS mean differences for TIP seminar attendance. STS, secondary traumatic stress; TIP, trauma-informed practices CASTRO SCHEPERS AND YOUNG | 329 Stevens et al, 2020). Preservice educators were experiencing drastically lower levels of STS than what was found in studies with classroom teachers.…”

“…The Mayo Clinic symptoms of STS, as a parallel process to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Sprang et al, 2018), included the symptoms above and the examples featured in Table 1 below. This exposure to the traumas that students experience and bring to school daily (both inside and outside the school) adds a layer of stress and trauma on teachers that has not been extensively explored (Borntrager et al, 2012;Motta, 2012;Stevens et al, 2020). While other studies have explored stresses that impact teachers directly, in this study, we investigate STS, which pays particular attention to the stress caused by hearing about students' trauma.…”

“…There have been four studies that explore STS in teaching and school contexts. Stevens et al (2020) examined the effects of lockdown drills on teacher STS. They found that although levels of STS in relation to school shootings were low and positively skewed, 16% of teachers reported levels of STS that merited additional concern.…”

School level and urbanicity differences in drilled plans for evacuation, lockdown, and shelter-in-place scenarios: A national analysis

“…Educational leaders need to instruct students and staff in the correct training methods of executing a lockdown procedure in preparation for an actual event (Dickson & Vargo, 2017). School district safety personnel may reproduce loud noises, screams, and knocking on classroom doors to create a semblance of reality to improve the success of the lockdown procedure (Stevens, Barnard-Brak, Roberts, Acosta, & Wilburn, 2020). Stevens et al (2020) noted, however, that lockdown drills should never be performed without prior notification to prevent confusion and potential harm to all involved.…”