Perceptions of Teachers and Staff Regarding the Impact of the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Model for School-Based Crisis Intervention

Abstract

The Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Model for crisis intervention was devloped for use with emergency service personnel. Research regarding the use of the CISM Model has been conducted among civilians and high-risk occupation groups with mixed results. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the CISM Model for school-based crisis intervention as perceived by teachers and staff. This study compares baseline and CISM Model data over a five-year period. The results suggest that the CISM Model had a positive effect on teacher and staff perceptions of service delivery components (i.e., informing students, meeting with staff members), but no effect on perceptions of the impact of CISM on student outcomes.

Key Words:

• Crisis intervention
• debriefing
• crisis counseling