Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Nursing (MAN)

Department

Nursing

First Advisor

Kaija Freborg RN, DNP

Abstract

Traumatic events profoundly affect both the physical and emotional health of a woman who endures the event. Gender, socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic disparities in rates of trauma exist showing that women who are marginalized are at a higher risk for trauma. Nurses are privileged to provide care for these women in their greatest times of need, yet despite the intimate relationship between nurses and their patients, trauma is a topic that remains largely unaddressed by the field of nursing. Because trauma can have such a profound effect on health, it is essential for nurses of all specialties and at all practice levels to have an astute awareness of trauma to successfully identify women who have a history of trauma. Additionally, in order to assist women with a trauma history to move towards healing, nurses must practice from a trauma-informed framework. An educational workshop based on Margaret Newman's Theory of Health as Expanding Consciousness is proposed to increase trauma awareness in nurses, including a population focus on providing trauma-informed nursing care to marginalized women. A metaphor of the trauma experience, using Newman's concepts of patterns, mutuality, and resonance, has been developed to increase understanding of the importance of a nurse's role in working with women who have been affected by trauma. A nurse's use of mutuality and resonance in partnership with a woman affected by trauma achieves the conditions necessary for the woman to recognize her pattern and reach a higher level of consciousness, leading to healing.

Identifier

SC 11.MAN.2014.Fadlalla.J

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