TY - JOUR
T1 - What Does it Mean to be Trauma-Informed? A Multi-System Perspective from Practitioners Serving the Community
AU - Guevara, Ana Maria Meléndez
AU - Johnson, Sarah Lindstrom
AU - Elam, Kit
AU - Rivas, Tristyn
AU - Berendzen, Hannah
AU - Gal-Szabo, Diana E.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the Arizona ACE Consortium for their leadership in the field and their community providers for sharing their experiences and expertise. We would like to recognize and thank the research assistants at the Positive Environment for Adolescents and Children (PEAC) Lab at Arizona State University, specifically to Sofia Chen, who helped and was involved in this project. All authors have taken an active role and made substantial contributions to the study and the revisions of this manuscript. Material preparation, and data collection were performed by S.L.J., K.E., T.R. and D.E.G. Conceptualization and analysis were performed by A.M.M.G., S.L.J., T.R. and H.B. The first draft of the manuscript was written in full by A.M.M.G., and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - The increased awareness of the detrimental consequences of trauma exposure has led researchers to focus their attention in identifying best practices on integrating trauma-informed approaches (TIAs) to child and family services. Yet, terms related to TIAs are often utilized without an adequate definition, and most importantly, without concrete and specific strategies to ensure that services are in fact trauma-informed. Using a multi-methods approach, this project examined important practice considerations that support successful implementation of TIA in school and community-based behavioral health settings. Key informant interviews and electronic surveys were conducted with child and family systems practitioners; interviews inquired about training, current practices, and barriers to service engagement. Data was analyzed, organized, and synthesized in accordance with core domains and specific components proposed by Hanson and Lang’s (2014) trauma-informed care framework. Findings suggest that practice of TIA differed by system and was largely driven by experiential and informal learning experiences. Practitioners also report challenges unique to each system hinder the utilization of screening and intervention best practices. Salient differences included those related to knowledge and accessibility to training, utilization of evidence-based practices, application of screening tools, and availability of resources within their systems. This brings to light the importance of considering both general and system-specific practice mechanism for the successful implementation and sustainability of TIA frameworks. We suggest system-specific strategies to help integrate trauma into services, including prioritizing capacity building efforts within each system by leveraging their natural supports and identifying systems-specific assets for both screening and intervention practices.
AB - The increased awareness of the detrimental consequences of trauma exposure has led researchers to focus their attention in identifying best practices on integrating trauma-informed approaches (TIAs) to child and family services. Yet, terms related to TIAs are often utilized without an adequate definition, and most importantly, without concrete and specific strategies to ensure that services are in fact trauma-informed. Using a multi-methods approach, this project examined important practice considerations that support successful implementation of TIA in school and community-based behavioral health settings. Key informant interviews and electronic surveys were conducted with child and family systems practitioners; interviews inquired about training, current practices, and barriers to service engagement. Data was analyzed, organized, and synthesized in accordance with core domains and specific components proposed by Hanson and Lang’s (2014) trauma-informed care framework. Findings suggest that practice of TIA differed by system and was largely driven by experiential and informal learning experiences. Practitioners also report challenges unique to each system hinder the utilization of screening and intervention best practices. Salient differences included those related to knowledge and accessibility to training, utilization of evidence-based practices, application of screening tools, and availability of resources within their systems. This brings to light the importance of considering both general and system-specific practice mechanism for the successful implementation and sustainability of TIA frameworks. We suggest system-specific strategies to help integrate trauma into services, including prioritizing capacity building efforts within each system by leveraging their natural supports and identifying systems-specific assets for both screening and intervention practices.
KW - Child and family
KW - Implementation
KW - Strategies
KW - System-specific
KW - Trauma-informed approaches
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U2 - 10.1007/s10826-021-02094-z
DO - 10.1007/s10826-021-02094-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85115143712
SN - 1062-1024
VL - 30
SP - 2860
EP - 2876
JO - Journal of Child and Family Studies
JF - Journal of Child and Family Studies
IS - 11
ER -