Child Soldier Narratives and Critical Incident Themes in Peace Education

Children are combatants in nearly three-quarters of the world\u27s conflicts and have posed difficult dilemmas for the professional armies they confront. There are moral and strategic arguments for limiting the use of child soldiers. When conflicts involving children end, experts say the prospects for a lasting peace are hurt by large populations of psychologically scarred, demobilized child soldiers. Parts of Africa, Asia, and South America risk long-term instability as generations of youth are sucked into ongoing wars. There is a need to teach about maintaining peace in post-conflict classrooms. The author proposes a lesson plan to develop themes for peace education using child-soldier narratives and critical incident questions. The teacher will supervise and give continuous and authentic feedback to student projects. The paper contains material on peace education, child-soldier narratives, and critical incident questioning. Students read background information on a selected country, a child- soldier narrative, and other relevant material. They work collaboratively to develop themes on peace education by responding to critical incident questions provided by the teacher. The teacher will analyze these responses and identify peace-education themes that emerged from them. The students complete a final project – a poster. The teacher will use the emerging themes to prepare future lessons on peace education

School Employees’ Perceptions Of Organizational Support During A Critical Incident

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to discover the lived experiences and perceived organizational support (POS) of school employees’ during the abrupt transition to remote education instruction resulting from a critical incident such as COVID-19. In direct connection, this study’s problem was to fill a gap in the literature regarding school employees’ lived experiences and POS during the abrupt transition to remote education instruction as the result of a critical incident. Organizational support theory and experiential learning theory were the conceptual framework that guided this study. The researcher used semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with 10 school employees at a private, primary through eighth grade school located in the northeast region of the United States. Interview questions were used to explore participants’ POS, perceptions of well-being, and emotions prior to and during the critical incident. Six themes and three sub-themes emerged and provided insight into the study’s research question. The study’s results indicated that participants perceived experiences of organizational support through (1) work experience descriptors, (2) feelings about well-being at work, (3) POS, (4) changes in well-being due to COVID-19, (5) POS due to COVID-19, and (6) emotions during the critical incident. These results significantly aligned with literature on POS and emotional responses during a critical incident. Findings from this study may be useful for school leaders, administrators, and employees in K-12 school systems

The emotional experience of leaders managing critical incidents

The emotional experience of leaders (i.e., school principals) who have managed a critical incident involving the death of a student, teacher or staff member was the focus of the dissertation. Secondary issues of communication, decision making, and interpersonal communication were also explored. A qualitative paradigm using methods of constant comparative analysis (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) embedded within a world view of feminism (Jaggar, 1997), social constructivism (Harre, 1986) and experiential psychology (Greenberg & Safran) identified questions, themes, and understandings. Purposive sampling identified ten participants including three female and seven male principals. Further distinguishing criteria included a separation between public and catholic schools, elementary and senior grades, rural and urban, male and female, and native and non-native. For each participant, two semi-structured interviews of 1 1/2 hours each were conducted. Nine themes were deduced from the data and included the principals' emotions, concerns, internal support (the principals' actions and beliefs that helped them cope with the CI), external support (support systems that assisted the principal personally and managerially), caring support (that principals gave to others), strengths, leadership, learning, and advice. The findings revealed that principals typically managed their emotions during a CI by compartmentalizing or pushing their feelings aside; managed the feelings of others by listening, making presence felt by being visible, showing concern, and encouraging participation; became "wiser," and "more understanding;" avoided critical incident training and practice; improved interpersonal communication with the most dramatic increase between principal and counselor; improved relationships with the school community; and were freer to seek support and not have to appear in control both of tasks and emotions when interdependency was acknowledged, which led to more open styles of communication and consultative decision making. Implications for practice point to the need for critical incident and stress management training; compulsory principal's debriefing; formalized system of administrative support during a CI; policy and procedures for CI practice sessions and updating of teams and networks; establishment of susceptibility markers; information and ongoing communication between head office and principals; and, training and education on the concepts of emotional intelligence. Contributions of the research include mapping out of the principals' critical incident process and the accompanying emotional states; explaining the relationship between the themes identified and critical incidents; identifying caring support, communication, and having a critical incident manual as key components for positive CI management. Also, a model of effective critical incident management (ECIM) was developed. As this was an exploratory study, research on the general population of principals is suggested to determine incidence rates, type of incidents, and quality of critical incident management

Emergency Nurses’ Experiences with Critical Incidents: A Dissertation

This qualitative descriptive research study was undertaken to describe the experiences of emergency nurses with critical incidents and identify strategies used to manage these situations in the emergency department setting. Critical incidents are events, such as death or serious injury, that cause a strong emotional reaction and may overwhelm a nurse‘s usual coping skills. Nineteen nurses who worked in one of two community-based emergency departments in Central Massachusetts were interviewed and asked to describe a critical incident they had experienced in their nursing career. Qualitative content analysis revealed two major themes: (1) critical incident experiences; and (2) aftermath; and five subthemes: (a) connections; (b) workplace culture; (c) responses; (d) lasting effects; and (e) strategies. Critical incidents were limited to events with children, patient deaths, and interactions with family; this differed from prior research in that no incidents were identified involving multiple casualties, violence, or mutilating injuries. Connections occurred when the patient was known to the nurse or reminded the nurse of self or family. Responses were the reactions of the participants to the critical incident and were physical, psychological, and spiritual in nature. The majority of study participants cried in response to a critical incident. Workplace culture, a subtheme not found in other studies, involved their perceptions of expected behavior in the emergency department and emphasized the influence of workplace culture on newer or inexperienced nurses. The theme of aftermath described the time period following critical incident. Lasting effects occurred in the form of vivid memories that were triggered by different stimuli. The subtheme, strategies, revealed that nurses desired, but lacked formal strategies to manage their reactions following a critical incident. Thus, they described the use of informal strategies such as talking to co-workers and family members. Implications of this study support the need for educational preparation and support of emergency nurses who deal with critical incidents in the workplace. Intervening during the critical incident experience and having follow-up strategies in place to prevent distress and enhance coping in the aftermath are important for well-being, practice, and patient care in the emergency setting

Therapists’ experiences and perceptions of teamwork in neurological rehabilitation: Critical happenings in effective and ineffective teamwork

This article reports the second part of an exploratory study into occupational therapists` and physiotherapists` perceptions and experiences of team-work in neurological rehabilitation: the factors that were thought to influence effective and ineffective team-work, and the meaning behind effective and ineffective team work in neurological rehabilitation. The study was undertaken through semi-structured interviews of 10 therapists from three different neurological rehabilitation teams based in the United Kingdom, and used the critical incident technique. Through analysis of the data, several main themes emerged regarding the perceived critical happenings in effective and ineffective team work. These were: team events and characteristics, team members` characteristics, shared and collaborative working practices, communication, specific organisational structures, environmental, external, and patient and family related factors. Effective and ineffective team-work was perceived to impact on a number of levels: having implications for the team, the patient, individual team members, and the neurological rehabilitation service. The study supported the perceived value of team work within neurological rehabilitation. It also indicated the extensive and variable factors that may influence the team working process as well as the complex and diverse nature of the process

Specifying a manufacturing knowledge reuse framework

This paper presents the first part of a design life cycle knowledge reuse framework: manufacturing knowledge reuse for design. The results of a manufacturing knowledge capture and classification exercise are presented. The research methodology applies the critical incident technique for the interviews. Interview notes were analysed using qualitative content analysis, identifying themes through coding. The interview content from which themes are identified are then analysed to identify the knowledge content. Both the themes and the knowledge content are cross referenced to any identify differences according to knowledge applied by role. A knowledge structure and ontology framework is proposed to support the storage and reuse of knowledge relating to manufacturing in the design process

A phenomenological study of the experience of competitive cyclists following a critical incident: impact upon performance

This qualitative study seeks to illuminate the psychological impact of a critical, sport related negative incident upon competitive cycling performance and to inform therapeutic practice with this client group. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse data from semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 7 competitive cyclists who had experienced a negative critical event such as an accident, fall or crash during their cycling participation and who found that the incident had a negative impact upon their performance. Analysis of the data focused on the participants’ experiences relating to the perceived impact of the critical incident upon performance. Six master themes emerged from the data encapsulating the experiences of the respondents: 1. Focus on self; 2. Focus on anxiety; 3. Physical injury; 4. Perceptual and decision-making processes; 5. Impairment of cycling performance; 6. Coping, adaptation and growth. The findings suggest that an integrative/eclectic therapeutic approach would be the most effective in tailoring interventions for this client group, in consideration of the breadth and nuance of the reported impact upon cycling performance. Counselling psychologists’ training and philosophical orientation equips them with the necessary skills and abilities to deliver such interventions

Traditional First Nations and Métis Healing Methods: Do They Foster Emotional, Mental and Spiritual Healing?

Critical Incident Technique (CIT) (Flanagan, 1954) was used to explore the efficacy of traditional First Nations and Métis healing methods in terms of emotional, mental and spiritual healing among self-identified First Nations and Métis students at the University of Saskatchewan. Three participants were interviewed for this study. Data was analyzed using McCormick’s (1997) ten themes as well as thematic analysis. Findings correlated with McCormick’s (1997) themes, and no new ones were added and none omitted. The themes and data were discussed in relation to Smart’s (1998) Seven Dimensions of Religion, in order to anchor the findings in a theoretical framework. Recommendations for future research as well as recommendations for counsellors and psychologists regarding integration of traditional First Nations and Métis healing methods in counselling are included

Critical incidents in a forensic psychiatric population: An exploratory study of motivational factors

This exploratory study examined the motivations for forensic clients’ engagement in critical incidents, specifically hostage-taking, barricades and roof-top protests. Using thematic analysis, a range of themes were identified. These included engaging in such incidents to seek deliberate isolation from others, gaining control, getting their needs meet, a need to communicate and being influenced by their peers. Selection of potential hostages appeared linked to feeling of grievance towards them. Yet the distress of a hostage, along with consideration as to the longer term consequences of their actions both for themselves and morally, appeared to reduce the risk of engagement in such incidents. The results are discussed in terms of Individualism, Self-Determination Theory of Motivation and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs

Understanding the Lived Experiences of Law Enforcement Officers Utilizing Employee Assistance Programs After Critical Incidents

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological research was to understand and describe the lived experiences of Central Florida law enforcement officers who utilized an employee assistance program (EAP) following a critical incident. Law enforcement professionals exposed to critical workplace incidents are often referred to an EAP for their mental health. The problem is that law enforcement officers severely underutilize the available services offered by an EAP, even after critical incidents when the support is urgently needed. Piaget’s work is underpinned by McCann and Pearlman’s constructivist self-development theory guiding the study. The theory asserts that individuals draw from their experiences to shape their reality, thus creating a worldview used to understand traumatic experiences associated with stigmas, apprehensions, and beliefs utilizing EAPs after critical incidents. The researcher conducted Zoom interviews with 11 participants; 13 semistructured questions were asked to gather rich data to answer the central research question and two subquestions. A critical analysis of the interviews led to the identification of five major themes: (a) EAP is not effective, (b) intervening factors influence the relationship between incidents and outcomes, (c) change in law enforcement officers’ beliefs and behaviors after the critical incident, (d) barriers associated with EAP services, and (e) potential for EAPs and other service providers