Abstract
Addressing mental and behavioral health effects of disaster media coverage is an important part of a disaster public health response, and school staff may be particularly well suited to help children and youth cope with disaster media. We conducted qualitative interviews (N = 42) to explore US school staff (e.g., teachers, mental health staff, administrators) perspectives on disaster media coverage and students and used an inductive thematic method for analysis. We found that school staff reported that students often exhibited reactions to disaster media that included expressing emotions and asking questions. With regard to school staff coping efforts with students, participants described different ways they talked with students about disaster media, but also reported a need for help with these conversations.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Disaster and Community Crisis Center (DCC) at the University of Missouri (http://dcc.missouri.edu), which is funded in part by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (5U79SM061264).
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This study was funded in part by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (5U79SM061264).
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Houston has received federal research grants from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Institute of Mental Health, and National Institute of Nursing Research. First declares that she has no conflict of interest. Danforth declares that she has no conflict of interest.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research board and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Houston, J.B., First, J. & Danforth, L.M. Student Coping with the Effects of Disaster Media Coverage: A Qualitative Study of School Staff Perceptions. School Mental Health 11, 522–534 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-018-9295-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-018-9295-y