Crisis intervention: A needs assessment for school psychologists

Violence in the schools has created a surge of emotion and action within the schools, community and government. Crisis intervention is seen as the next step to deescalate the trauma and emotional stress that results. However, there is not a set standard of crisis intervention techniques and the school psychologist may not feel adequately prepared to handle the crisis.;This study examined school psychologists' perceptions of the need for crisis intervention training. A needs assessment was conducted to ascertain if school psychologists believe they are adequately prepared to deal with specific crises (suicide ideation, suicide, shooting/homicide, fatal accident, drug/alcohol fatality, rape, and fatal illness) in their school(s) and if their level of preparedness differs depending on the type of school (elementary, middle, or high).;When examining the level of training and the preparedness to deal with the specific crises frequency distributions were used. The first research question addressed the level of crisis intervention training school psychologists received. Results showed that school psychologists as a whole do not receive a full course in crisis intervention in their graduate programs; in fact, they receive very little formalized training.;School psychologists were asked how prepared they thought they were to deal with seven separate types of crises which may be encountered at school. School psychologists overall felt more prepared when faced with a suicide ideation or gesture then with any other of the six crises. School psychologists stated they felt the least prepared for one particular crisis, rape.;A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine if the level of preparedness differs according to the type of school (elementary, middle, or high) the school psychologist serves. There was no significant (p > .05) difference between groups for any of the crises.;One of the greatest implications of this study was in the area of training. School psychologist's level of preparedness for the crises investigated was not as strong as expected. Some type of training initiative should be considered as a component of graduate programs without increasing the length of the curriculum. Implications for further research are included.