University of Kwazulu-Natal

Using Content Warnings In Your Course A Trauma Informed Approach

Bonisiwe Shabane
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using content warnings in your course a trauma informed approach

As educators, we want to challenge students to think deeply and critically about the content in the courses we teach. We strive for our classes to be transformative experiences and know that shaping a positive learning environment is essential to making that happen. One way to create a welcoming learning environment is to use content notes—commonly called trigger warnings—to alert students to potentially traumatic material. This is not about creating a so-called “safe space”; rather, it is about supporting all of our students. Research shows that the majority of students have survived a traumatic event—warning them about content that may be distressing is a pedagogical practice that aligns with the principles of Universal Design for Learning.This guide... In psychology, a “trigger” is an experience or stimulus that recalls a traumatic event from the past for an individual.

To understand the impact of trigger warnings, we must first understand that our students are real people with feelings and unique experiences—thus, they may be triggered by difficult content in our classes. To create a welcoming environment for all our students, we want to be mindful about the content we teach, how we introduce it in the classroom, and how we teach it in real time... The practice of using trigger warnings began in the early 2000s on feminist websites “to warn readers of fraught topics like sexual assault, child abuse, and suicide, on the theory that providing warnings would... Throughout the early 2010s, trigger warnings became a common practice in certain social media spaces. Viewers might also encounter trigger warnings in the openings of television programs that addressed difficult or distressing content. Accepted 2022 Apr 14; Collection date 2022 Jun.

Trauma is now recognized as a common human experience that has consequences, including adverse effects on learning outcomes. Principles of trauma-informed care include awareness of the impact of trauma and use of strategies to prevent retraumatization. While well-described in medical and mental health care, these principles have been inconsistently applied in the medical education classroom. Content warnings can be part of a trauma-informed classroom approach that notifies learners about potentially distressing topics, allows individuals to employ self-care, and seeks to resist retraumatization. This article describes our experience integrating a content warning about reproductive topics in a second-year medical school course. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-022-01559-0.

Keywords: Trauma-informed care, Content warning, Medical education, Inclusive learning environment Trauma was noted as a widespread, serious public health problem that can have an adverse effect on many human outcomes, including educational attainment, by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) [1]. SAMHSA conceptualized trauma as the following: “Individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and... As a campus community, we should all strive to foster trauma-informed, resilient and inclusive classrooms and communities. When difficult topics come up in class or discussions, content warnings may feel like an obvious solution or a default strategy to prepare students. Here are a few things you should know about content warnings and how to implement more trauma-informed practices within your classrooms.

Content and trigger warnings include any verbal or written notices that precede potentially distressing content. In the context of classrooms, these warnings are sometimes used to cover things like reading materials, lecture content, videos, homework assignments or topics that may come up in classroom discussions. Warnings inherently make assumptions about how students may react or respond. They also indirectly communicate that only certain topics can be distressing. When trigger and content warnings are used in these ways, it often overlooks the range of ways trauma responses show up for people. Additionally, content and trigger warnings rarely help individuals avoid certain subjects because, in practice, they are given within a moment’s notice.

Moreover, research indicates they might even heighten feelings of distress or fear for some individuals. Depending on the nature of the course you teach, it may be necessary to alert students to potentially activating (sometimes called “triggering”) content or resources before broaching sensitive topics. This provides students who experienced trauma with a warning that they may experience adverse reactions by engaging with the material. As an instructor, consider the locations and timing of these warnings. Some locations include a blanket syllabus statement; separate warnings about specific course content prior to a lecture, assignment, or video; or in-class announcements before beginning discussion about a topic. You may also offer a personalized invitation to students to reach out to you if they find course content to be problematic or activating.

At the start of the semester, decide how you expect students to prepare for and handle potentially distressing course content, and communicate these expectations to students at the start of the course. Respond to student concerns with empathy and respect, and identify alternative course resources or ways of engaging with the material if needed. These warnings make course content more accessible to students who experienced various types of trauma. Sample content warnings include the following: This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels. In recent years, teachers and heritage professionals have wrestled with the question of when and how to provide alerts about materials that students or users might find difficult to navigate.

This is the first in a three-part Active History series on the subject of content warnings that elaborates the crucial processes and approaches that inform this work. Source: Students in a classroom at Carleton University, 1961. National Film Board. Phototheque. 1971-271, TCS 01186, Library and Archives Canada. …to foster an optimal learning environment, we need to pay attention to emotions and how the learner is feeling, as learning cannot take place in the absence of emotion.

As a researcher and teacher who has read exceedingly difficult archival material and as someone who has openly sobbed in the middle of the reading room at Library and Archives Canada after finishing a... The process of teaching and learning is dynamic and often challenges us to carefully consider our approaches on an ongoing basis. When I reflect on some past experiences of teaching difficult material, I feel that I did not always have the framework or understanding at the time to fully support the diversity of challenges inherent... Looking to other professions, I noted the work that was taking place to provide a trauma-informed approach, and I wanted to review the whole of my classes to see how I could provide an... This post is a reflection of what I have learned and what I am working on. Including a content warning (also known as a “trigger warning” or “content notice”) is the practice of providing notification of potential adverse emotional consequences of forthcoming content (Boysen, 2017).

What is American Studies? To answer this question, we will examine several different disciplinary approaches to the study of America. From history to sociology to anthropology to art history, we will explore how scholars in various fields construct their arguments; evaluate evidence; and contribute to the field of American Studies. This class contains readings and materials that may be difficult to encounter. If at any point you have concerns about how the class materials might affect you, please do not hesitate to be in touch with me. It is impossible to teach a course on ethics of any worth, particularly one that aims to engage the world on its terms and not to retreat wholly into the realm of the abstract,...

Part of our task as a class will be to learn how to discuss these topics in a productive way. A non-negotiable norm of the course will be that we strive to create a brave space to tackle these matters. Brave, however, does not mean that we will avoid difficult, troubling, upsetting, unsettling and sometimes emotionally charged topics. All care will be taken to confront these issues responsibly. Confront them, though, we must. Example from Leland and Kulbaga (2018), Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy

A note about the readings: Authors sometimes write memoirs after surviving or witnessing abuse, assault, family violence, self-harm, military conflict, or other trauma. While these stories are moving and inspirational, they can be painful or triggering to read. Don’t hesitate to contact Counseling Services [number] at any time, or visit [website] for helpful resources, including suicide awareness and prevention, mental health, and veteran support. Self-care is strength! Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to support your learning experience in this class. By Katharine Carter, M.A., & Eileen Dombo, Ph.D., National Catholic School of Social Service

For many of us in higher education, we intentionally plan our courses and do our best to create positive learning experiences for our students. Often, we fail to keep in mind that by the time students reach their freshman year of college, many of them will have experienced multiple traumatic incidents. For example, over 356,000 students have experienced gun violence in schools; in 2022 alone, there were 46 school shootings, more than in any year since 1999, when data on school shootings started to be... Crime in many major cities has increased by almost 13% in the past five years (Gramlich, 2022). Of course, there are many other forms of interpersonal trauma in addition to violence in the community. According to the World Mental Health Survey Consortium, in 2016, over 70% of respondents reported that they had experienced at least one traumatic event in childhood, an increase from the 60% of respondents the...

Suffice it to say, the types of traumatic experiences college students carry with them are numerous and can impact behavior in the classroom, academic performance, and mental health (DeLuca, 2016). The American College Health Association's (ACHA) National College Health Assessment found that approximately 77% of college students reported that they experienced moderate to serious psychological distress (ACHA, 2022). The effect of traumatic events on the school experience for children and adolescents has garnered the most attention when it comes to the impact of trauma on learning (Dombo & Sabatino, 2019). Less attention has been paid to the experiences of undergraduate students and those in graduate programs (Wells, 2023), with exceptions found in professional schools such as social work and law (Katz, 2022; Radis et... Primary experiences of trauma, coupled with learning about traumatic events experienced by others, can have negative effects on learning (Davidson, 2021; Harrison et al., 2020; McPhillips, 2021). While it is not prudent to cease teaching about these issues for a myriad of reasons, we can develop strategies to do so in a trauma-informed manner.

Because faculty members interact with students consistently each week, we are in the best position to recognize the signs of trauma in students. However, we don’t need to be mental health professionals in order to respond to those signs. A trauma-informed approach means that anyone who interacts with a student should have a basic understanding of how trauma can affect students (SAMHSA, 2014; Sweetman, 2022). For educators, one of the most visible effects of traumas in students is their academic performance, such as absences, declining grades, or difficulty paying attention in class. Because students could be unaware of the resources available to them on campus or reluctant to seek help, sharing information about support services on campus can encourage and promote care without pressuring faculty to... A response to trauma doesn’t have to be clinical; it can simply be caring.

A basic trauma statement inside a course syllabus, which can be personalized to fit individual teaching styles, can encourage communication with students and bring awareness about the resources available to them (Gunderson et al.,... For example, I have used the following language: Sometimes, our best efforts to help end up causing more harm than good. Such is the case with trigger warnings, which have become commonplace in media and classrooms. Though intended as a trauma-informed practice, recent research suggests that trigger warnings often increase distress rather than reduce it. Instead of preparing individuals for difficult content, they can heighten anxiety before encountering the material.

If our goal is to create truly trauma-informed spaces, we need to move beyond trigger warnings and adopt evidence-based practices that promote resilience and engagement. One common misconception is that trigger warnings and content warnings are the same thing. While similar, they serve different purposes. Trigger warnings are a specific type of content warning, but they go beyond simply informing — they assume distress and often encourage avoidance. While content warnings allow for preparation and choice, trigger warnings can reinforce fear of engagement. Research shows that trigger warnings do not reduce distress but can increase anticipatory anxiety — the unease a person feels after seeing a trigger warning but before engaging with the content.

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