Trauma-Informed Care Training for Educators: Some Preliminary Evidence

Abstract

A report of the findings of two studies conducted on the training of educators on trauma-informed care (TIC) is presented in this article. With one sample ( N = 552), Study 1 results indicated that both full-day and half-day training resulted in improved scores on attitudes regarding TIC. There were no significant differences in pre-training and post-training scores across those who received half-day and full-day training. With a second sample ( N = 159), Study 2 examined whether four middle schools within one school district with varying amounts of prior TIC training would differ in scores on the Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed Care (ARTIC-35) scale before receiving this TIC training. A one-way ANOVA indicated significantly higher scores on the ARTIC-35 in schools that had received prior TIC training compared with those that had not. Overall, the results of both studies advance the understanding of TIC in schools.

Formative evaluation of Peace Spaces in a middle school: Teacher perceptions and student usage

“…Thus, a systems‐level intervention is warranted that includes training on overall use of trauma‐informed practices in schools, on how to promote positive teacher–student relationships (TSR), and the addition of tools like the Peace Spaces to promote and support these practices. This is further supported by the literature on the benefits of training in helping teachers follow trauma‐informed practices (Liang et al, 2020) and the literature on the three‐tiered system of support model for TIC in schools (Chafouleas et al, 2016; Dorado et al, 2016; Plumb et al, 2016), which includes training as part of the first tier.…”