An Examination of the Effect of the Implementation of a Trauma-Informed School Initiative on the Attitudes of the Staff in a School

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological case study was to investigate the change in the attitudes of teachers pre and post implementation of a trauma-informed school initiative in a school in the Eastern Grand Region of Tennessee. As adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have become more recognizable in school age children by teachers and school staff members due to an increase in knowledge about ACEs, there has been an increase in the number of trauma-informed initiatives undertaken by schools across the United States. Due to the challenges associated with the implementation of trauma-informed initiatives in schools, it is important for administrators to have knowledge of the areas that need to be focused on the most to help the initiative be more successful. The attitudes of the school staff members offer a unique glimpse into the initiative's strength. The researcher used a qualitative methodology of individual teacher interviews, focus group interviews, and examination of school attendance and discipline to contribute to the study's results. The data from the interviews were coded and analyzed, and the results revealed common themes that emerged. Regarding Research Question 1, one theme that emerged was teachers have been adequately trained. A second theme that emerged regarding Question 1 was more training needed in the future. With reference to Research Question 2, a theme that emerged was growth in acceptance of the initiative. Secondarily, the belief that additional work still needs to be done 3 to bring apprehensive staff on board with the initiative was another theme from Question 2. Regarding Research Question 3, making better use of the reset room and other resources that are available to the staff was a primary theme. A separate theme of needing to provide the staff with additional tools to use with the students emerged as well from Question 3. This study supplied the field with additional information by providing specific information about teacher perceptions on trauma-informed practices and barriers to teacher commitment in a school that is a few years into the implementation process and contributed additional knowledge of barriers to teacher commitment of trauma-informed approaches in schools.