Examining Student Teachers' Understanding of Trauma Informed and Culturally Responsive Practices with Refugee Children

• Main Author: Arif, Namra
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2022
• Subjects: Clinical psychology
• ISBN: 9798374416572

Children account for 50% of the worlds refugee population (UNHCR, 2019b). This is a vulnerable population that undergoes various traumas. It has been shown that positive psychosocial environments can buffer the effects of trauma in a child's life (Stevens et al., 2016). This is particularly important for refugee children coming to Western countries like the United States, where they face challenges related not only to trauma but acculturation as well. Educators can play a critical role in providing trauma informed and culturally responsive environments to support these children, especially since school may be one of the first support systems a refugee child encounters. There is a lack of research related to this topic within the United States. Therefore, this study sought to explore student teachers' attitudes and preparedness related to trauma informed and culturally responsive practices, along with their understanding related to refugee experiences of resettlement.Participants were recruited from various teacher education programs in the United States. From these participants, 66 individuals met the criteria of being a student teacher enrolled in a four-year bachelor degree program and in their 2nd, 3rd, or final year of study, who completed at least 85% of the online survey. The findings of this study support the necessity for more trauma informed and culturally responsive training, coursework, and classroom experiences for our future educators. This is an important factor to an inclusive classroom along with the capacity to self-reflect on one's own experiences with marginalization and/or privilege.