Population Health and Trauma-Informed Practice: Implications for Programs, Systems, and Policies

Population studies indicate that trauma exposure is ubiquitous and has a significant impact on health. Trauma-informed practice seeks to address the health consequences of trauma through integrative responses that incorporate an understanding of the effects of trauma, the multiple pathways to recovery, and the potential for re-traumatization. Current trauma-informed practice considers trauma exposure an individual clinical problem rather than a societal problem with population health consequences. Population health refers to the aggregated health status of individuals who share some characteristic, such as trauma exposure, and includes the study of determinants that shape the distribution of health outcomes in specific populations. In this paper, we describe a population health perspective for trauma-informed practice that complements the current clinical perspective, and then discuss implications of that perspective for programs, systems, and policies. We summarize essential concepts about trauma over the life course and describe principles of population health science relevant to trauma-informed practice. We then discuss implications of these principles by identifying four priorities for trauma-informed practice from a population health perspective: (a) adopting trauma-informed policies to prevent trauma exposure and to foster resilience in the aftermath of trauma; (b) infusing trauma-informed practice into everyday activities so it is a routine part of interpersonal transactions; (c) incorporating trauma-informed practices into existing service systems; and (d) adapting existing treatments to incorporate trauma-informed principles for population health impact.