Survivor Voices on Healing pre-tragedy. Their view on what helped - PDF document

5/4/2018 Purpose • To understand how survivors were adjusting following a mass murder tragedy, compared to Survivor Voices on Healing pre-tragedy. • Their view on what helped most in the and Recovery Following immediate aftermath. Tragedy • Factors in the recovery context that affected post-tragedy mental health. This is to help other communities better Erika Felix, Ph.D. prepare and respond to crisis events. University of California, Santa Barbara About UCSB  One of America’s Public Ivy Isla Vista Tragedy universities May 23, 2014  Global leader in the Sciences  Ranked as 10 th best public university in the U.S.  6 Nobel Prize laureates, including Shuji Nakamura in 2014! Location of Isla Vista in Relation to About UCSB UCSB Total Number of Students: • 20,238 undergraduate students; 2,813 graduate students • 8% International Students from 79 countries Student Ethnicity Where UCSB Students Live* Unknown White 2% 42% Isla Vista American 40% Indian/Alaskan 1% On Campus 37% Black/African American 4% Other 22% Asian/Pacific Islander Chicano/Latino 26% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 25% 1

5/4/2018 Crime Scene Locations Details of the Tragedy CURRENT STUDY WITH SURVIVORS Memorial Events after the Tragedy Paddle – Out Memorial Event IV Deli Memorial Review of Research on Mass Shootings* Background (Shultz et al., 2014) • The shared experience of collective traumas Large number of unsuspecting victims from make them differ from individually-based mainstream society not connected to shooter. traumas in some substantial ways. • Greater exposure is consistently associated Factors Associated with Mental Health Problems Following Mass Shootings: with greater distress (Bonanno et al., 2010) . • Previous psychological • Degree of Exposure functioning • Loss of Someone Close • Social Support • Previous Trauma • Other Factors (possibly gender) 2

5/4/2018 Northern Illinois University Shooting Virginia Tech Mass Shooting (Orcutt et al. 2014) (Littleton et al., 2009) • Resource loss predicted posttraumatic Four distinct trajectories found: stress symptomatology at both 2 and 6 – Minimum Impact-Resilience (60.9%) months post-tragedy. – High Impact-Recovery (29.1%) – Moderate Impact-Moderate Symptoms (8.2%) – Chronic Dysfunction (1.8%) We Asked… Current Study • What changed and what stayed the same after • Original study was designed to study how the tragedy? prior experiences of school bullying • Psychological Sense of School Membership • General Self-Efficacy affected first year students’ adjustment • Social Support to college. • Mental Health (Anxiety, Depression, Posttraumatic Stress) – Fall 2012 (fall of Freshman year) • What pre- and post-tragedy factors are related – Spring 2013 (end of Freshman year) to post-tragedy clinical levels of MH symptoms? – Tragedy: May 23, 2014 (Sophomore year) • What was helpful in the initial aftermath? What – Follow-up Oct-Nov 2014 (Junior year) do students say other universities should know to help students recover? We asked… Participants Ethnicity • 593 took Fall, 2012 • What do survivors say was the most stressful survey (18% response part of the tragedy? rate) • What do survivors say other people should Latino/a • 143 took post-tragedy 12% 15% know about the psychological effects of this survey (24% response White type of tragedy? rate). – 66% Female Asian/Pacific 33% 40% Islander • 77 had all three time Mixed or points (pre1, pre2, Other post-tragedy) 3

5/4/2018 Exposure to the Tragic Events Exposure Percent Yes Saw police and ambulance responding to injuries 32.3% Knew someone personally who was killed 28.8% Heard gunshots 26.1% Knew someone personally who was injured 24.8% Heard Screams 17.9% Saw someone injured 6.7% Saw the car with the gunman 5.2% Saw someone hit by the car 3.0% HOW ARE STUDENTS DOING NOW? Saw someone killed 2.3% AND COMPARED TO BEFORE? Saw the car crash 0.8% Personally injured 0.7% How worried are you about your Change in Psychosocial Adjustment future safety…? from Pre- to Post-Tragedy (N=140) 7 100% 4.10% General Self-Efficacy 9.80% 9.00% 6 90% 14.80% 80% 18.90% 5 Total Social Support 70% 60% 28.70% 4 25.40% 50% Depression 40% 3 29.50% 30% 2 Anxiety 42.60% 20% 10% 17.20% 1 0% Sense of School On Campus In Isla Vista 0 Membership Not at all True A Little Some A lot Extremely Fall 2012 Post-Tragedy Change in Psychosocial Adjustment Perceived Resource Loss Influenced from Pre- to Post-Tragedy (N=77) Depression 7 7 6 6 5 Symptom Levels 5 General Self-Efficacy 4 4 Total Social Support No Loss 3 3 Depression Any Loss Anxiety 2 2 1 1 0 0 Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Post-Tragedy Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Post-Tragedy 4

5/4/2018 Perceived Resource Loss Influenced Post-Tragedy Clinical Mental Health Anxiety Concerns • 23.2% 25.0% 6 20.8% posttraumatic 20.0% 20.0% 5 stress 17.0% symptoms Symptom Levels 14.4% 15.0% 4 • 40.0% in 11.5% 11.7% 3 No Loss 10.0% clinical range Depression Anxiety for any MH Any Loss 2 5.0% concern – 25.9% one 1 0.0% – 9.6% two 0 – 4.4% three Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Post-Tragedy Looking back, those with clinical mental Those with clinical levels of post-tragedy mental health symptoms, reported… health symptoms post-tragedy had: • More childhood victimization prior to • Higher mean resource loss (1.16 vs. 0.45; p <.000), college entry • Greater objective exposure (2.30 vs. 1.64; • H igher depression scores in Fall 2012. p =.034), and • Lower social support levels in Spring • Greater fear for their safety and the safety of 2013. loved ones (6.65 vs. 5.67; p =.026). What Memorial Events Did Students Attend in the Weeks that Followed? Most Commonly Attended Events • Official campus memorial: 59.5% • Class discussions: 52.2% • Chalk memorial: 46.7% • Activities to build a sense of community: 42.6% WHAT WAS DONE IN THE WEEKS THAT • Candlelight vigil: 35.9% Official Campus Memorial FOLLOWED AND WHAT STUDENTS SAY WAS MOST HELPFUL 5

5/4/2018 What Was Most Helpful in the Weeks that What Was Most Helpful in the Weeks that Followed? Followed? • “I think UCSB handled it extremely well and did a • Candlelight vigil great job assisting the community. Especially • Religious or spiritually-oriented memorial making as many resources as possible available to students and in being sympathetic to students events needs.” • Memorial paddle out • Supportive & relaxing activities • “The way to heal comes from the students, not the school itself. Case in point the paddle out. • Chalk Memorial Also bring puppies onto campus like what's done during hell week. Being reminded of something innocent and good would be better than dwelling on the…depressing.” Students rated talking individually with A minority of students attended drop-in professors about the events as more helpful counseling services in the immediate aftermath, than class discussions about the events. and in general it was rated positively. • “ drop in was very helpful to me, it was a great “I appreciated a lot that professors went above quick response.” and beyond in regards to cutting some slack • Another student voiced a different experience, academically and being willing to mourn with their students. That meant a lot to me, probably “At the counseling drop in hours, the questioner more than any organized event. It was just gave me so much anxiety that I could not humanity manifesting in the classroom, which is complete it. Please for others effected [sic], something I wasn't used to seeing or perceiving make the questioners less intense and direct. I within a classroom setting.” understand it is needed for a diagnosis, but it might be too much for people.” What to do about academic issues? Student Voices on Academic Issues • UCSB offered co-located drop-in academic • “ Finals should have been canceled. It was torture advising, financial aide advising, and studying material for finals that I used to study with my friend who was killed in the shooting. Being emergency housing services. forced to go through finals while being very • Academically, students were given the depressed was horrible and made me want to leave option of taking their grade as is before the UCSB for a while.” event, taking an incomplete, or to stay and • Another student stated, “I think it was great that finish final exams. advisors reached out and I was able to understand • There were a variety of student views on my options…” this. 6