What Are The Needs of College Students on Campuses?: Police Response to Neurodiverse Emergencies
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Christine Laskowski
CoPIs:
Stephanie Corea, Karmena Tawfeek, Gabriella Kipp, Danielle Arrabito
College:
The College of Health Professions and Human Services
Major:
Occupational Therapy
Faculty Research Advisor(s):
Jennifer Gardner
Abstract:
The purpose of this mixed-methods research study aims to understand crisis response procedures, strengths, areas for improvement, and the potential role of occupational therapists in crisis response teams on an urban-based college campus. Concurrently, the study will investigate the experiences of university-employed police officers and students facing emotional/mental distress at Kean University (KU). The inclusionary criteria for all participants to be aged 18 years or older, connected to KU in Union, N.J., and proficient in English. The student inclusionary criteria include up to 100 students interacting with KU police officers during an emotional/mental crisis. The police officer inclusionary criteria include up to 17 officers who must be employed at KU and respond to emergency calls regarding student(s) in emotional distress/crisis. Outcome measures were developed for each participant group, including demographic surveys, personal experience surveys, which consist of multiple choice and open-ended questions, and semi-structured interviews to explore strategies for enhancing the mental well-being of students and improving campus police response. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize the results of the demographics and feasibility surveys. The Person-Environment-Occupation-Performance (PEOP) model guided the development of the semi-structured interview questions and will guide the deductive, qualitative coding. Data collection and analysis are scheduled for Spring 2024.