Bringing trauma-informed practice to domestic violence programs: A qualitative analysis of current approaches

Three out of 10 women and 1 out of 10 men in the United States experience violence at the hands of an intimate partner-often with devastating costs. In response, hundreds of residential and community-based organizations have sprung up to support survivors. Over the last decade, many of these organizations have joined other human service systems in adopting trauma-informed care (TIC), an approach to working with survivors that responds directly to the effects of trauma. Although there have been various efforts to describe TIC in domestic violence (DV) programs, there is a need to further synthesize this discourse on trauma-informed approaches to better understand specific applications and practices for DV programs. This study aimed to address this gap. The authors of this study systematically identified key documents that describe trauma-informed approaches in DV services and then conducted a qualitative content analysis to identify core themes. Results yielded 6 principles (Establishing emotional safety, Restoring choice and control, Facilitating connection, Supporting coping, Responding to identity and context, and Building strengths), each of which comprised a set of concrete practices. Despite the common themes articulated across descriptions of DV-specific trauma-informed practices (TIP), we also found critical differences, with some publications focusing narrowly on individual healing and others emphasizing the broader community and social contexts of violence and oppression. Implications for future research and evaluation are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record