Work

“You’re Dealing With Kids”: Trauma-Informed Communicative Resilience Within School Public Relations

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This study sought to understand the emotional, and potentially traumatic, experiences of 23 school public relations (PR) practitioners throughout the United States as they navigate a changing, and increasingly politicized, educational landscape. By arguing that school PR constitutes a high-risk profession, we sought to understand PR practitioners’ processes of communicative resilience and the degree to which it includes trauma-informed principles. Findings from this study include recognizing the need to include emotional safety in the crafting of normalcy and the use of strategic non-transparency as an alternative logic. We also argue that legitimizing negative feelings is a form of productive action.

Source: Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly

DOI: 10.1177/10776990251336382

Authors: Stephanie Madden, Yasemin Beykont

Institutions: Pennsylvania State University, Marist University

Language: English

Topic: Public Relations and Crisis Communication

Subfield: Communication

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,900

Funder: Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication