Monitor on Psychology - September 2011 - (Page 69)

ways of relating to others, new personal strengths, positive spiritual changes and a stronger appreciation of life in the wake of crises. Many adults and teens affected by 9/11 show these kinds of gains, research shows. A 2009 study in the Journal of Traumatic Stress (Vol. 22, No. 2), for instance, found that 57.8 percent of a national sample of 1,382 adults reported greater prosocial behaviors, religiousness and political engagement in the wake of the event. Meanwhile, a 2003 study reported in Traumatology (Vol. 11, No. 4), found that about a third of California adolescents reported positive changes after 9/11, including in their appreciation of life, life priorities, spirituality, relationships and self-reliance. Adults can encourage these same tendencies in children by using positive coping strategies, especially those that have been effective in past difficult situations, says Robin Gurwitch, PhD, professor and program coordinator of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. So, instead of allowing children to ruminate on the past trauma, for example, adults can encourage children to remember and reflect on the event, but also to perform positive actions in the present, such as sending cards or cookies to activeduty personnel or helping relatives, friends or others in need. “When children in distress can reach out and help others who may also be hurting,” Gurwitch says, “it not only helps their ability to cope, but also builds their resilience.” • Educate parents. Working with parents on communicating with children is a key avenue for psychologists’ involvement, says Goodman. “The biggest bang for your buck is to look at social and caregiver support for kids in any of these situations and to understand risk and protective factors,” she says. That said, research is still sparse on how parents can best help. Some studies show that parents’ efforts to help their children cope with disasters may have little appreciable effect on their children’s mental health. A study in the July/August 2010 issue of Child Development (Vol. 81, No. 4), for instance, explored the effectiveness of three strategies often cited as “good ways” for parents to help their children after a crisis: helping children process their emotions, getting them back into regular roles and routines, and distracting them from the event. However, none of these approaches lessened the children’s rates of PTSD or depression, according to study authors Elizabeth T. Gershoff, PhD, of the University of Texas at Austin, J. Lawrence Aber, PhD, of New York University and colleagues. Other psychologists are starting to identify evidence-based approaches that may improve these outcomes. Jonathan Comer, PhD, of Boston University’s Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, and Philip Kendall, PhD, of Temple University, for instance, have designed a protocol to help parents communicate with youngsters when watching terrorism-related news reports. Their strategies include modeling a sense of psychological security by not conveying anxiety to their children and by assuring their love and protection; offering praise when their children make positive coping statements; and educating their septeMber 2011 • Monitor on psychology children on how to watch the news, for example by highlighting the unnecessarily alarming and dramatic nature of the coverage. “Without making light of the actual risk of terrorism in today’s world, parents are taught to help their children understand the precise probability — as opposed to the possibility — of their actually being the victim of an attack,” Comer explains. In a 2008 study in the Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology (Vol. 76, No. 4), Comer and colleagues tested the model with 90 Philadelphia-area children and their mothers. Half were assigned to the protocol, the other half to “communication as usual.” The parent-child pairs watched a 12-minute CNN news clip on the risk of future terrorism and the mothers were instructed to talk to their children about it using either the protocol or their normal mode of discussion. Children whose mothers used the model reported lower levels of perceived threat from terrorism than the other children and mothers, the team found. “We’re trying to put these threats into a more realistic context,” says Comer, “so that parents and children can go about their lives more normally.” • Care for caregivers. It’s important to remember that parents, teachers, counselors and other adults in a child’s life need help for their trauma before they can properly care for children. A 2010 study in Psychology in the Schools (Vol. 47, No. 6) that surveyed 399 Washington-D.C.-area teachers and other school personnel following the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon, for instance, found that 27 percent had experienced at least one symptom of hyperarousal — the PTSD symptom cluster that includes insomnia, irritability and jumpiness — while 12 percent experienced at least one symptom of intrusively re-experiencing the event, 10 percent at least one symptom of avoidance or numbing, and 11 percent one or more symptoms of depression. On the positive side, many teachers reported experiencing post-traumatic growth after the traumatic event. Half said they felt better able to handle difficulties, while 56 percent reported feeling more compassion for others. In addition, teachers who sought to provide appropriate psychosocial interventions for children reported feeling prepared to handle student problems and competent to manage their work responsibilities, says the study’s lead author, psychologist Erika Felix, PhD, of the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The findings suggest that providing teachers with the psychological or professional support they need to effectively manage crises can make an important difference in how children — and they — adjust to and move on from the event, she says. Such findings also underscore the general benefits of parents’ ability to cope in the face of disasters, Gurwitch adds. “One of the best predictors of children’s positive adjustment following a disaster or crisis situation is how well their parents are doing,” she says. • Look at the context. Finally, it can be tempting for researchers or clinicians to focus exclusively on how a trauma like 9/11 could damage children’s future well-being. Yet research 69

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - September 2011

Monitor on Psychology - September 2011
Letters
President’s Column
Contents
From the CEO
Supreme Court hears psychologists on prison and video game cases
Antipsychotics are overprescribed in nursing homes
New MCAT likely to recognize the mind-body connection
A $2 million boost for military and families
In Brief
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS UPDATE
On Your Behalf
Judicial Notebook
Random Sample
TIME CAPSULE
QUESTIONNAIRE
Speaking of Education
SCIENCE WATCH
An uncertain future for American workers
Advocating for psychotherapy
PRACTICE PROFILE
ETHICALLY SPEAKING
Seared in our memories
Helping kids cope in an uncertain world
APA and Nickelodeon team up
Muslims in America, post 9/11
Bin Laden’s death
‘They expect us to be there’
Answering the call of public policy
Candidates answer final questions
APA News
Division Spotlight
New leaders
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATION
Disaster relief training
Honoring teaching excellence
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - September 2011