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. 2014 Jul 2;5:10.3402/ejpt.v5.23079. doi: 10.3402/ejpt.v5.23079

Table 3.

Sources of the support among the students exposed to the school shootings in acute phase (T1): who provided the most important help and what was perceived as healing element(s)

Main source of the support n=236
n (%)
Healing elements Examples
Own family and close relatives 134 (56.8) • Intimacy
• Love
• Intimacy and speaking about normal daily life issues
• Mother and her genuine concern and love
• I have the best dad in the world
Friends and fellow-students 127 (53.8) • Peer support
• Understanding because of similar experience
• It is easiest to talk to the close persons you can trust
• Just being close, total presence, and feeling of understanding without words
Teachers and other school staff 14 (5.9) • Togetherness
• Understanding because of similar experience
• The best help comes from people who had experienced the same tragedy
• We feel attached to our school, and that helps us
Crisis psychologists, psychiatrists, and other professionals 61 (25.8) • Sharing the story
• Professionalism
• Psychoeducation
• Therapeutic interventions
• Enhancing safety
• Sessions with the psychiatrist consisted of real listening and deep understanding, not only of being together
• The crisis psychologist listened, supported, and forwarded to the medical doctor
• Crisis workers provided information about how to cope and how to deal with normal daily life issues and what helps you to continue your life
• The groups in which we were together, that was a decisive experience in recovery
• The awareness that there are crises workers available if needed, that has helped me
Church and parish 6 (2.5) • Spiritual consolation • My own parish and belonging to it, I was allowed to share and leave my worries to God
None or I cannot say 18 (7.6) • I know that there was all kind of help available. But I did not have time to go, and also the strangeness of others does not help

Note: The percentages do not sum up to 100.0 because students mentioned more than one source of support and reasons as healing elements.