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The San Diego East County School Shootings: A Qualitative Study of Community-Level Post-traumatic Stress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Lawrence A. Palinkas ,
Erica Prussing ,
Vivian M. Reznik  and
John A. Landsverk
Lawrence A. Palinkas*
Affiliation:
Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California-San Diego, San Diego, California, USA
Erica Prussing
Affiliation:
Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California-San Diego, San Diego, California, USA Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Children's Hospital, San Diego, California, USA
Vivian M. Reznik
Affiliation:
Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California-San Diego, San Diego, California, USA Department of Pediatrics, University of California-San Diego, San Diego, California, USA
John A. Landsverk
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Children's Hospital, San Diego, California, USA School of Social Work, San Diego State University, San Diego, California USA
*
Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0807USA E-mail: lpalinkas@ucsd.edu
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Abstract

Introduction:

Within one month (March 2001), two separate incidents of school shootings occurred at two different high schools within the same school district in San Diego's East County.

Objective:

To examine community-wide expressions of post-traumatic distress resulting from the shootings that may or may not fulfill DSM-IV criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but which might interfere with treatment and the prevention of youth violence.

Methods:

A qualitative study was undertaken using Rapid Assessment Procedures (RAP) in four East San Diego County communities over a six-month period following the two events. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 85 community residents identified through a maximum variation sampling technique. Interview transcripts were analyzed by coding consensus, co-occurrence, and comparison, using text analysis software.

Results:

Three community-wide patterns of response to the two events were identified: (1) 52.9% of respondents reported intrusive reminders of the trauma associated with intense media coverage and subsequent rumors, hoaxes, and threats of additional acts of school violence; (2) 44.7% reported efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, conversations, or places (i.e., schools) associated with the events; negative assessment of media coverage; and belief that such events in general cannot be prevented; and (3) 30.6% reported anger, hyper-vigilance, and other forms of increased arousal. Twenty-three (27.1%) respondents reported symptoms of fear, anxiety, depression, drug use, and psychosomatic symptoms in themselves or others.

Conclusions:

School shootings can precipitate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder at the community level. Such symptoms hinder the treatment of individuals with PTSD and the implementation of effective prevention strategies and programs.

Keywords

communitiespost-traumatic stressqualitative methodsrapid assessment proceduresschoolsshootingsyouth violence
Type
Special Reports
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 19 , Special Issue 1: Psychosocial Themes , March 2004 , pp. 113 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2004

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