Impact of Information Level on Teachers' Ability to Identify and Accommodate for PTSD

Abstract

This study concerns the impact of providing teachers with increasing levels of information about a hypothetical student's PTSD symptoms. Specifically, the amount of information given teachers was examined as it impacted: 1. teachers' causal attributions, 2. their ability to identify specific emotional problems, and 3. their ability to choose accommodations recommended for students with PTSD. An online survey format was used to randomly assign 236 teachers to one of three levels of information about a hypothetical student namely, 1) description of behavioral and academic difficulties in the classroom (Behavioral Descriptors), 2) Behavioral Descriptors plus information about trauma exposure and diagnosis of PTSD (PTSD Diagnosis), and 3) Behavioral Descriptors, PTSD Diagnosis plus outcomes associated with PTSD (PTSD Outcomes). Increased levels of information resulted in a significant increase in accurate identification of the cause of student difficulties overall. Regarding ability to identify specific emotional diagnoses, teachers' ability to identify PTSD as the accurate emotional problem represented was also significantly more likely with increased levels of information. However, the likelihood of teachers to identify accommodations recommended for students with PTSD was not significantly impacted by increased levels of information. Results indicated that teachers make more accurate causal attributions about students with PTSD with increased information, but this does not result in increased ability to identify classroom accommodations that are recommended for students with PTSD.