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Virginia Tech

In Their Own Words: Faculty/Staff and Student Accounts of Stress at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

This study examines the stressful responses of faculty/staff and students after experiencing the April 16, 2007 school shootings at Virginia Tech. Understanding people's responses to trauma not only assists in more knowledge about what is stressful after a traumatic event but also may facilitate the finessing of tools and strategies for resilience and recovery in the aftermath of trauma. After investigating stressful responses to the April 16, 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech, and in particular those with probable PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder), I found it was not always necessary to meet the "stressor" A criterion of PTSD. This is crucial because the "stressor" criterion A of PTSD is required to receive the diagnosis of PTSD. Although I found subtle stress differences for women compared to men, and faculty/staff compared to students, none of the differences were statistically significant. This research additionally contributes to the literature by detailing a profile of stressors for both faculty/staff and students in the aftermath of the worst college campus shooting in U.S. history to date. Findings suggest future research should examine the "stressor" criterion A of PTSD as well as the full spectrum of stressful responses both in the "immediate" and "delayed" aftermath of trauma(s).

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Ph. D.
Level thesis:degree_level
doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Sociology
Department dc:contributor.department
Sociology
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2017

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • McLeese, Michelle Frances
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Hughes, Michael D.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Jones, Russell T.
  • Vogt Yuan, Anastasia Sue
  • Shoemaker, Donald J.
  • Ovink, Sarah

Subjects

dc:subject × 9

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:12672
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/88017

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

McLeese, Michelle Frances. In Their Own Words: Faculty/Staff and Student Accounts of Stress at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. doctoral thesis, Virginia Tech, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/88017