JOPLIN, MO.--- Talking about trauma can be difficult but Jacqualyn Mulrain wanted to share her story.
"I have to participate to let everybody know, the before, the after," states Mulrain.
Mulrain and her nine-year-old daughter Jasmine are talking with Project Share researchers about how they were affected during and after the May 22nd tornado.
"We really want to know more about factors that lead to distress versus factors that lead to resilience in kids following storms," Erin Hambrick, MA, Director of Project Share, says.
The Project Share research team is from the University of Kansas Clinical Child Psychology and Developmental Psychology programs. They are looking at ways kids talk about trauma to see how they cope with it later. The researchers focus on children ages 8 to 12 and their mothers.
"How does a kid talk about the tornado by themselves, how does the mom talk about it, and then how do they talk about it together," Hambrick says.
The group says this is the most under-researched age group.
"Kids are resilient and they're the ones that observe things differently than adults do," Kellee Shepherd, Human Services Campus Director, says.
The study is part of a two-step process, an interview and a follow-up survey a couple months later.
"Hopefully we'll be able to transfer some of this information in a way that we can help other communities that might experience something like this," Shepherd says.
Mulrain also hopes sharing her and her daughter's story will help them move on.
"Just some type of normalcy, some type of tools to be able to deal with the oncoming storms," Mulrain says.
The team's goal is to get 60 families participating in the study. If you are interested, the group will be at Missouri Alliance's block party on August 2nd.
"I have to participate to let everybody know, the before, the after," states Mulrain.
Mulrain and her nine-year-old daughter Jasmine are talking with Project Share researchers about how they were affected during and after the May 22nd tornado.
"We really want to know more about factors that lead to distress versus factors that lead to resilience in kids following storms," Erin Hambrick, MA, Director of Project Share, says.
The Project Share research team is from the University of Kansas Clinical Child Psychology and Developmental Psychology programs. They are looking at ways kids talk about trauma to see how they cope with it later. The researchers focus on children ages 8 to 12 and their mothers.
"How does a kid talk about the tornado by themselves, how does the mom talk about it, and then how do they talk about it together," Hambrick says.
The group says this is the most under-researched age group.
"Kids are resilient and they're the ones that observe things differently than adults do," Kellee Shepherd, Human Services Campus Director, says.
The study is part of a two-step process, an interview and a follow-up survey a couple months later.
"Hopefully we'll be able to transfer some of this information in a way that we can help other communities that might experience something like this," Shepherd says.
Mulrain also hopes sharing her and her daughter's story will help them move on.
"Just some type of normalcy, some type of tools to be able to deal with the oncoming storms," Mulrain says.
The team's goal is to get 60 families participating in the study. If you are interested, the group will be at Missouri Alliance's block party on August 2nd.
Comments
Please contact us if you'd like to participate: www.projectshare-joplin.org
Erin H.
July 26, 2012 at 10:17 pm
