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EXPLORING THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL INCIDENT RESPONSE TEAMS
[Thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2012.
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Abstract
ABSTRACTChildren sometimes experience loss and trauma through critical incidents such as unexpected bereavement through accidental death which can have negative psychological effects. In many countries, where there is a school psychology service, it would seem likely that an Educational Psychologist could be involved in order to mitigate such psychological effects. Support led by Educational Psychologists and others is often organised through Critical Incident Response Teams.Since 1994 a range of support offered by Educational Psychology Services in England has been documented in the literature. There is information in the literature about the range of professionals involved and the type of support that is offered. However, it is not clear why some responses/teams are more sustainable and why they vary in structure. The literature broadly specifies critical incident responses, but this research aims to provide a more detailed specification, sharply focussed on the process of developing a Critical Incident Response Team.The present study involved a series of interviews at seven Local Authorities which have Critical Incident Response Teams all of which have been operational for at least five years. Multiple sources of evidence are used, namely semi-structured interviews with lead Educational Psychologists for critical incident support and other Educational Psychologists and professionals who are part of the Critical Incident Response Team. The transcriptions of all the semi-structured interviews were analysed using content analysis and thematic analysis. The findings were used to propose a theoretical model, containing indications of context, personnel and process factors to consider for the development of a sustainable Critical Incident Response Team.