The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #47229

Clarissa Agee Shavers, DNSc, RNC¹, Lori Ann Post, PhD², Christopher D. Maxwell, PhD², Ellen Hayse³, and Colleen Madigan, MSW². (1) College of Nursing, Michigan State University, A127 Life Sciences Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1317, 517-353-8678, ageeclar@msu.edu, (2) Institute for Children, Youth, and Families, Michigan State University, Suite 27 Kellogg Center, East Lansing, MI 48824, (3) Violence and Intentional Injury Prevention Program, Institute for Children, Youth and Families/MSU, 27 Kellogg Center, East Lansing, MI 48824

The multitude of health care problems associated with children who witness intimate partner violence and trauma continues to manifest throughout our society. Children who witness these events have been noted to report more distressing emotional responses and behavioral problems at home. Multidisciplinary community health care professionals continue to explore, hypothesize, theorize, and evaluate for the causes and effects of intimate partner violence and trauma among children. Nonetheless, the clinical assessments of the impact of stressful events and the diagnoses of posttraumatic stress or posttraumatic stress disorder continues to be very controversial among clinicians and researchers. Thus, there continues to exist a need for more clinical evidenced-based and non-diseased-based interventions at individual and community system levels, which help to heal and restore the emotional well-being of children and their families. The purpose of this secondary data analysis outcomes-based poster presentation is to describe and discuss the effectiveness of a therapeutic counseling intervention protocol implemented by a Child Therapist, practicing in a rural safe haven,for a sample of 58 pre-school and school-aged children who had witnessed various forms of intimate partner violence and trauma at home.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this poster presentation, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Analyze the reported interrelationships between and among exposures to intimate partner violence (IPV) and trauma to the emotional responses and behavioral patterns among children.
• Describe the methodological approach utilized by the researcher to evaluate the effectiveness of a domestic violence prevention coalition enhancement project implemented by a child therapist practicing in a rural safe haven (shelter) for children witnesses of IPV and trauma.
• Discuss the 'real world' or 'lived experiences' reported by the children participants to the child therapist.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.