Negotiating a new day: parents' contributions to supporting students' school functioning after exposure to trauma

Abstract

Parents are advised to get their children back to school soon after exposure to trauma, so that they may receive social support and restore the supportive structure of everyday life. This study explores parents’ experiences of supporting adolescents in regaining school functioning after the July 2011 massacre at Utøya summer camp in Norway. One year after the attack, 87 parents of 63 young people who survived the massacre were interviewed using qualitative interviews. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. All parents were actively supportive of their children, and described a demanding process of establishing new routines to make school attendance possible. Most parents described radical changes in their adolescents. The struggle of establishing routines often brought conflict and frustration into the parent–adolescent relationship. Parents were given general advice, but reported being left alone to translate this into action. The first school year after the trauma was described as a frustrating and lonely struggle: their adolescents were largely unable to restore normal daily life and school functioning. In 20% of the cases, school–home relationships were strained and were reported as a burden because of poor understanding of needs and insufficient educational adaptive measures; a further 20% reported conflict in school–home relationships, while 50% were either positive or neutral. The last 10%, enrolled in apprenticeship, dropped out, or started working, instead of finishing school. Implications for supporting parents with traumatized adolescent students are indicated.

Delayed Disaster Impacts on Academic Performance of Primary School Children

“…There are also likely to be different contributing factors to poor academic performance including persistent symptoms of PTSD and aggression (Scott et al., ), impacting on school satisfaction (Sims, Boasso, Burch, Naser, & Overstreet, ) and test anxiety (Weems et al., ) School staff are often acutely aware of the initial impacts of an emergency event on students’ academic performance (Dyregrov, Dyregrov, Endsjø, & Idsoe, ). However, over time, parents and schools may not recognize that delayed impacts arise from the disaster experience, and therefore children may not be offered appropriate support programs (Gibbs et al., ; Grelland Røkholt, Schultz, & Langballe, ; Smilde‐van den Doel et al., ).…”

“…However, this is mostly based on research arising from Hurricane Katrina where the children moved away from schools that have been described as among the most poorly performing schools in the USA to schools with higher academic standards and expectations of students (Casserly, ; Peek & Richardson, ; Reich & Wadsworth, ). A combination of sensitive support from teachers, targeted academic support, and encouragement to engage in extracurricular activities have been indicated but not yet proven as factors likely to enable students to adjust to the school changes and thus to realize their academic potential (Barrett et al., ; Grelland Røkholt et al., ; Pane et al., ; Smilde‐van den Doel et al., ). This provision of a positive supportive environment has been recognized more broadly as an important element in child and youth resilience (Durlak et al., ; Ungar, ), and mental health promotion (Weare & Nind, ).…”

I’m not as bright as I used to be – pupils’ meaning-making of reduced academic performance after trauma

“…This is partly explained by the lack of rigorous evaluations, and by unclarity as to actual practice in schools that claim to use trauma-informed approaches. Several studies have noted teachers' uncertainty about their own role and how to go about supporting and teaching traumatized students (e.g., Alisic, 2012;Alisic et al, 2012;Røkholt et al, 2016).…”

Returning to school after a terror attack: a longitudinal study of school functioning and health in terror-exposed youth

“…The school semester started 4 weeks after the massacre, and the Norwegian Ministry of Education instructed the schools to contact all students to plan their return to school and to tailor possible adaptations throughout the school year [ 14 , 15 ]. In addition, detailed information was posted on the Ministry’s website about pupils’ rights to educational adaptations, including information from the Norwegian Education Act (2006) on permitted absence and alternative ways of assigning grades and completing classes in high school when the student’s absence is high [ 2 , 16 ]. Teachers and school health workers were asked to be proactive and provide survivors with close follow-ups, supporting them to complete their school program.…”