Mother’s Perceptions of Volusia County Gun Violence Prevention Measures in Elementary Schools Public

Abstract

Background: America has one of the highest gun violence rates among youth. Between 2013 and 2015, there were 154 school shootings within the United States. Florida had the second number of school shootings in America between 2013 and 2015. In response to the Parkland shooting in 2018, Florida legislators passed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act to increase security across Florida public and charter schools. Volusia County, one of Florida’s 67 counties, implemented various gun violence prevention measures, including mental health services, active shooter drills, single point of entry, and armed guards on campuses. Using the Theory of Diffusions of Innovations as a framework, this study aims to examine mother’s perceptions and expectations of the new changes in school safety amongst elementary schools in Volusia County.

Methods: This study employed semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews with 11 mothers of Volusia County elementary school students. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded using MAXQDA v11. A code-by-code review across transcripts was conducted through code reports. Content analysis was used to identify and describe core themes across data.

Results: Four emergent themes were developed: (1) “I feel like I’m at the mercy of whatever the School Board decides”, (2) “I do trust that they have the best interest of the kids in mind”, (3) “I think there is more we can do as parents”, and (4) “It’s not a perfect system, but…it’s at least an effort”. These themes explore perceptions along the levels of the Socioecological Model, where mothers discussed their perceptions of the School Board, the School, and Parents. In addition, the themes outline the expectations and perceptions of mothers of Volusia County elementary school students with regards to gun violence prevention measures.

Conclusions: The results highlighted that mothers supported the measures but recognize that there is not a perfect system to fully prevent a school shooting. The results showcase the strained relationship, and various levels of trust, between mothers and the Volusia County School Board. In contrast, the results showcase the positive relationship, and high levels of trust, between the mothers and their child’s elementary schools. More research is needed on these school-based gun violence prevention measures to ensure communities support these measures to protect schools from active shooters and effective gun violence prevention innovations are successfully diffused/disseminated in communities. Volusia County needs the support of mothers, and parents, when developing and implementing gun violence prevention measures.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………….......5

LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………………………………………..8

           Impact of Gun Violence Legislation…………………………………………………….8

           School Shootings…………………………………………………………………….......8

           Evidence-Based Gun Violence Prevention Measures……………………………….......9

           Gun Violence Prevention Measures in Volusia County………………………………..11

           Theory of Diffusion of Innovations…………………………………………………….13

METHODS……………………………………………………………………………………..15

           Study Design……………………………………………………………………………15

           Participant Recruitment…………………………………………………………………15

           Interview Guide………………………………………………………………………...16

           Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………....16

RESULTS……………………………………………………………………………………….18

           Sample Description……………………………………………………………………...18

           Knowledge of Gun Violence Prevention Measures……………………………………..19

           Key Findings…………………………………………………………………………….19

           Visual Framework…………………………………………………………………….....20

           Theme 1: “I feel like I’m at the merc of whatever the School Board decides”………....21

           Theme 2: “I do trust that they have the best interest of the kids in mind”………………24

           Theme 3: “I think we could do more as parents”……………………………………….26

           Theme 4: “It’s not a perfection system, but…it’s at least an effort”…………………....29

           Recommended Gun Violence Prevention Measures…………………………………….31

           Summary of Findings…………………………………………………………………....32

DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………………………………....34

           Summary of Study…………………………………………………………………….....34

           Discussion of Key Results…………………………………………………………….....34

           Limitations…………………………………………………………………………….....39

           Strengths…………………………………………………………………………………39

           Future Research………………………………………………………………………………………….40

           Public Health Implications……………………………………………………………….40

           Recommendations………………………………………………………………………..41

           Conclusions………………………………………………………………………………42

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………………………………….44

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………..45

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Behavioral Sciences and Health Education
Degree	M.P.H.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Public Health
Mot-clé	Gun Violence School Shootings School Based Interventions Injury Prevention
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Biana Woods-Jaeger, PhD, Emory University
Committee Members	Randi Smith, MD, MPH, Emory University

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