Supporting Sick Students: Understanding the Social and Emotional Impacts of Illness and Injury

Format

Individual Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

Eleos Counseling

First Presenter’s Email Address

elizabeth@eleosathens.com

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Elizabeth Marston is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker living in Athens, Georgia. She completed her MSW at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has pursued advanced training in trauma and completed a certificate in Medical Trauma Informed Care from Xavier University (Cincinnati). In her private practice, she works primarily with emerging adults. She specializes in complex trauma and medical-related trauma and provides consultation services to systems aiming to implement trauma-informed care.

Strand #1

Health: Mental & Physical Health

Strand #2

Home: Family & Community Engagement

Relevance

This presentation explores the ways that physical and mental health are intertwined with one another (health) and the ways that health affects communities and families. The presentation will encourage attendees to connect the impacts of the students to their communities and families (Home).

Brief Program Description

Illness and injury, while frequent in childhood, contribute to a wide variety of challenges for students, including chronic absenteeism, anxiety, and even traumatic stress reactions. This workshop will discuss the prevalence of illness and injury and the impacts on students, families, and communities, as well as ways that educators can positively respond.

Summary

Chronic absenteeism, emotional dysregulation, and difficulties in the classroom environment are just a few of the ways that medical crises can disrupt a student’s ability to function in school. While illness and injury are commonplace during the school year, the significant impact of medical issues are less understood.

Students diagnosed with a chronic illness or who experience an acute injury can exhibit symptoms of traumatic stress in addition to their physical difficulties. While the physical symptoms may result in the student needing accommodations in the forms of IEPs or 504 plans, the mental toll of the medical crisis may be overlooked, to the detriment of the student.

This workshop will outline the prevalence of illness, injury, and disability in students and how those rates affect success in schools. We will then discuss the myriad of ways that medical issues disrupt life for students and their families. Using a trauma-informed perspective, we will describe the ways that family and community systems struggle under the weight of the healthcare system and how these struggles affect student productivity and educational functioning.

This workshop aims to examine how educators can effectively respond to students and families who have gone through a difficult medical experience. We will consider interventions that are both systemic as well as individual, with a specific focus on activities that are simple to implement as well as effective and allow teachers to support these families to help them stay connected to their students’ school experience.

Evidence

This presentation will incorporate evidence from the National Center for Education Statistics and the Department of Education that will demonstrate the prevalence of health crises. Further, the work listed below will be utilized:

Cordova, M.J., Riba, M.B., & Spiegel, D. (2017). Post-traumatic stress disorder and cancer. The Lancet Psychiatry, 4(4):330–8. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(17)30014-7.

Edmondson, D. (2014) An Enduring Somatic Threat Model of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Due to Acute Life-Threatening Medical Events. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 8(3), 118–34. doi: 10.1111/spc3.12089.

Hall, M. F., & Hall, S. E. (2017). Managing the psychological impact of medical trauma: A guide for mental health and health care professionals. Springer Publishing Co.

Ogden, P., Minton, K., & Pain, C. (2006). Trauma and the body: A sensorimotor approach to psychotherapy. W. W. Norton & Company.

Shemesh, E. et al. (2005). Comparison of parent and child reports of emotional trauma symptoms in pediatric outpatient settings. Pediatrics, 115(5), e582-589. doi: 10.1542/peds.2004-2201.

van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.

Weisz, S. (2022). Addressing the Health-Related Causes of Chronic Absenteeism: A Toolkit for Action. Healthy Schools Campaign.

Learning Objective 1

Attendees will identify 3 medical issues that could cause significant distress to students.

Learning Objective 2

Participants will discuss all the systems that are affected by a medical crisis.

Learning Objective 3

Attendees will verbalize knowledge of at least 3 appropriate interventions to support students.

Keyword Descriptors

Trauma, healthcare, absenteeism

Presentation Year

2024

Start Date

3-4-2024 9:45 AM

End Date

3-4-2024 10:15 AM

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Mar 4th, 9:45 AM Mar 4th, 10:15 AM

Supporting Sick Students: Understanding the Social and Emotional Impacts of Illness and Injury

Illness and injury, while frequent in childhood, contribute to a wide variety of challenges for students, including chronic absenteeism, anxiety, and even traumatic stress reactions. This workshop will discuss the prevalence of illness and injury and the impacts on students, families, and communities, as well as ways that educators can positively respond.