The Eco-Social Trauma Intervention Model

We describe a transdisciplinary theory of change for interventions to promote trauma recovery that utilizes an eco-social approach to enhance health status and well-being following trauma exposures. This four-level theory of change could be applied to other population health problems, as well.

This theory-development process included reviewing existing literature, identifying assumptions, defining core concepts, stating propositions, depicting concepts and propositions for clarity, and illustrating with case examples grounded in our focus on trauma.

The resulting Eco-Social Trauma Intervention Model offers a framework for interventions that address the impact of trauma on the individual level through self-regulation, interpersonal level through relationships, community/organizational level through safety, and societal level through identities. Application of this model to intervention development for those affected by trauma is intended to promote resilience, recovery, posttraumatic growth, and positive adaptations to traumatic stress for populations, going beyond the current Western paradigm of treating individuals for psychopathology.

The Eco-Social Trauma Intervention Model offers an adaptable transdisciplinary framework for developing and researching scalable trauma interventions for individuals, communities, and populations.