Abstract
niversity courses in disciplines such as social work, family studies, humanities, and other areas often use classroom materials that contain traumatic material (Barlow & Becker-Blease, 2012). While many recommendations based on trauma theory exist for instructors at the university level, these are often made in the context of clinical training programs, rather than at the undergraduate level across disciplines. Furthermore, no organized model exists to aid instructors in developing a trauma-informed pedagogy for teaching courses on traumatic stress, violence, and other topics that may pose a risk for secondary traumatic stress in the classroom (Kostouros, 2008). This paper seeks to bridge the gap between trauma theory and implementation of sensitive content in classrooms of higher education, and presents a model of trauma-informed teaching that was developed in the context of an undergraduate trauma studies program. Implications and future directions for research in the area of trauma-informed university classrooms are discussed.
Highlights
University courses in disciplines such as social work, family studies, humanities, and other areas often use classroom materials that contain traumatic material (Barlow & Becker-Blease, 2012)
While directly learning about trauma often occurs at the graduate level and in clinical programs of study, many disciplines outside of social work, human services, and clinical training programs interact with materials and curriculum that involve trauma (Barlow & Becker-Blease, 2012)
This paper has proposed a trauma-informed teaching model for use in university courses that cover trauma and traumatic stress, violence, sexual assault, or other courses that may be completely or partially focused on topics that contain elements of trauma
Summary
Primary exposure to trauma and diagnoses of trauma and stressor related disorders (see American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013) may increase the risk for students to experience adverse reactions to course materials in classrooms that introduce traumatic materials (Cunningham, 2004). Recommendations have been made to universities regarding veteran student care and support, such as building awareness of veteran issues and creating external partnerships with military organizations (Rumann & Hamrick, 2009) and creating a veteran-friendly climate through creating student veteran organizations and campus offices meant to address the needs of veterans (O’Herrin, 2011). These recommendations are meant to address the veteran student population as a whole on college campuses, specific university faculty should recognize how course content may affect veterans in the classroom
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