A One-Session Treatment of PTSD After Single Sexual Assault Trauma. A Pilot Study of the WONSA MLI Project: A Randomized Controlled Trial

A scoping review of nursing interventions to reduce PTSD in adolescents who have been sexually abused

Incidences of sexual violence have increased over the past few years. The negative impacts of sexual violence on adolescents are social isolation, low self-esteem, and disrupting the developmental stages of adolescents, and can even cause the risk of suicide. Nurses as providers of comprehensive nursing care have a role in reviewing various aspects to reduce the impact of sexual violence on adolescents. The purpose of this study is to explore methods of nursing intervention for reducing the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder among adolescents who are victims of sexual violence. The design used in this study is scoping review. Article were searched from CINAHL, PubMed, and Scopus databases. The inclusion criteria for articles in this study were full text, randomized control trial or quasi-experimental research design, English language, samples is adolescents (10-19 years based on WHO) who are victims of sexual violence, and the publication period of the last 10 years (2013-2022). We found 12 articles which discussed about nursing interventions in reducing PTSD symptoms in adolescents who are victims of sexual violence. Range of the samples is 40-405 adolescents. Several articles from developed countries. There are three nursing intervention methods that can be carried out, namely improve skill interventions, relaxation interventions, and cognitive behavior therapy. Nurses act as educators, facilitators and counselors so that victims can recover from their traumatic experiences. Providing nursing interventions to adolescents who are victims of sexual violence needs to pay attention to all aspects that affect the physical and psychological condition of the victim.

Lifespan Integration Therapy with Trauma-Exposed Children: a Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Study

Childhood trauma is a devastating reality with immense psychological impact to a child. Outcome research of therapy with trauma-exposed children is scarce and mostly focuses on cognitive and behavioural changes. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Lifespan Integration (LI) therapy purports to integrate traumatic experiences into a cohesive autobiographical narrative. In this research study, we investigate the efficacy of LI with children through the careful examination of one participant. We applied Robert Elliott's Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Research Design (HSCED; 2002, 2014), which uses quantitative and qualitative data to argue for and against therapy efficacy. The 12-year-old research participant received nine sessions of LI over 3 months, and data was collected before, throughout, and after therapy. The extent of the client's change over the course of therapy was investigated, as well as LI's contribution to the change, and what parts of LI were most helpful in bringing about change. Findings indicate that the client changed significantly over the course of therapy with lasting effects at follow-up, and that LI was substantially responsible for this change. Conclusions: The results provide evidence for LI as an important tool that mental health professionals can use to help trauma-exposed children.

Delayed healthcare access among victims of sexual abuse, understood through internal and external gatekeeping mechanisms

BACKGROUND

Sexual abuse is associated with severe health consequences, and the European Union has, through the Istanbul Convention, urged its member countries to provide specialist care for victims of sexual abuse.

AIM

This aim of this study was to investigate patient- and abuse-related characteristics among patients seeking help at a specialist clinic in Sweden, with focus on disclosure, mental health and appropriate healthcare access.

METHODS

This is a descriptive study where journal data from 100 consecutive patients January 2017 to February 2018 were analyzed. All adult individuals (women n = 80, men n = 8) who had taken part in the standardized semi-structured intake interview at the clinic were included (n = 88).

RESULTS

At admission, mean age was 40.3 (SD 11.9), mean number of psychiatric diagnoses 6.3 (2.6), and 93% of the patients scored above cut-off (≥34) on IES-R for PTSD. A majority of the patients (87%) had been exposed to childhood sexual abuse (CSA), and mean time to first disclosure was 15.9 (SD 15.3) years. In total, 82% of the patients had, despite disclosure, experienced difficulties accessing appropriate healthcare before coming to the specialist clinic.

CONCLUSION

Adult victims of sexual abuse have difficulties accessing appropriate healthcare. This constitutes a gender-based equality problem. A model of gatekeeping mechanisms with two dimensions (external and internal) and three categories (Competence related, Organizational and Emotional) is proposed to understand these difficulties.

A review on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): "Symptoms, Therapies and Recent Case Studies"

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), previously known as battle fatigue syndrome or shell shock, is a severe mental disturbance condition that is normally triggered by the experience of some frightening/scary events or trauma where a person undergoes some serious physical or mental harm or threatened. PTSD is a long-life effect of the continuous occurrence of traumatic conditions which, leading the production of feelings of helplessness, intense fear, and horror in the person. There are various examples of events that can cause PTSD, such as physical, mental, or sexual assault at home or working place by others, unexpected death of a loved one, an accidental event, war, or some kind of natural disaster. Treatment of PTSD includes the removal or reduction of these emotional feelings or symptoms with the aim to improve the daily life functioning of a person. Problems which are needed to be considered in case of PTSD like ongoing trauma, abusive or bad relationships. Various drugs which are used for the treatment of PTSD include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (citalopram, fluvoxamine, fluoxetine, etc.); tricyclic antidepressants (amitriptyline and isocarboxazid); mood stabilizers (Divalproex and lamotrigine); atypical antipsychotics (aripiprazole and quetiapine), etc. In this review, we have covered the different risk factors, case studies related to various treatment options with different age group peoples in PTSD and their effects on them. We have also covered the symptoms and associated disorders which can play a key role in the development of PTSD.