Congratulations to Gina Coyne Cunningham who on Friday, April 3, 2025, successfully defended her dissertation.
The title of Gina’s dissertation is, "SCHOOL LOCKDOWN DRILLS: UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN SUPPORTING STUDENTS."
Overview of Problem: Schools prioritize emergency preparedness and physical safety, yet the psychological impact of safety protocols, specifically lockdown drills, on students’ well-being across varying age groups remains underexplored. Limited research examines the role school mental health professionals play in supporting students, both physically and emotionally, during these drills.
Research Purpose: This purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and understand the experiences of school mental health professionals during lockdown drills and their perceptions of the effects of lockdown drills on the emotional well-being of students in Grades 5–8. A second purpose was to describe the role school mental health professionals have in supporting students pre-, during, and/or post-lockdown drills.
Research Design: Grounded in a conceptual framework guided in a conceptual framework informed by Lazarus & Folkman’s (1984) transactional model of stress and coping theory, this study employed an interpretive qualitative research design.
Sample: The study’s sample included 16 school mental health professionals who work with grades 5-8 students in New York State’s Hudson Valley region for at last three years. Participants were recruited or referred to me through colleagues in my professional organization and through snowball sampling.
Data Collection and Analysis: Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using Yin’s (2016) phases of qualitative analysis from which four themes emerged. The interviews explored the participants’ experiences and support provided for students during lockdown drills, their perception of the effects of these drills on students’ emotional functioning and effective interventions for students pre, during, and/or post lockdown drills.
Findings/Results: School mental health professionals are frequently assigned security-related tasks during lockdown drills, limiting their ability to provide clinical care and creating a conflict with their professional role. Many experience personal stress, feeling responsible for physically protecting students in potential threatening situations. Further emphasized is that lockdown drills can have uneven effects on students. Vulnerable student populations may experience heightened distress while repeated exposure may lead to other students becoming desensitized. The lack of research-based, trauma-informed frameworks resulted in gaps between policy and practice. Consequently, school mental health professionals often rely on informal or individualized approaches to support students.
Conclusions/Implications: This study found that school mental health professionals view lockdown drills as normalized but often distressing experiences that can negatively affect students’ emotional well-being. A significant gap identified is the lack of trauma-informed practices, including limited training and absence of post-drill debriefing. The findings suggest schools should treat drills as psychological, not just technical, events by incorporating trauma-informed approaches, targeted support, and structured opportunities for students to process their experiences.
Dissertation Committee Chair(s):
Dr. Kenneth Mitchell
Dissertation Committee Member(s):
Dr. Joanne Marien
Dr. Amanda Nickerson
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