Hispanic students in higher education: A case for trauma informed approaches

ABSTRACT

This secondary study focused on Hispanic college students’ experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic and their academic success with instructors who implemented trauma-informed approaches and sought to add to the knowledge base of the literature to support the necessity of establishing trauma-informed policies and pedagogical practices in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Data from an exploratory study conducted in the summer 2020 semester at a small, private, HSI was utilized (N = 309). Most participants were Hispanic Nonwhite (65%). Results indicate that among all racial/ethnic group participants, Hispanic participants were more likely to have experienced a family member or close friend who died from the COVID-19 virus, X² (3, N = 297) = 10.1, p= .017. Additionally, Hispanic participants reported an increase in stress (44%), anxiety (38%), and depression (29%). Finally, there was a statistically significant difference in Hispanic participant expected grade outcomes compared to all other races when instructors implemented trauma-informed practices X² (1, N = 234) = 5.964, p = .01. The ultimate goal of higher education institutions is to ensure academic success for students. Utilizing trauma-informed approaches in higher education will help generate safe, supportive, and respectful environments that have been shown to positively effect academic success.

KEYWORDS:

• Hispanic serving institution
• trauma informed
• higher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2022.2089311

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.