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ABSTRACT: Introduction: Patients seeking primary care often present with health concerns related to psychological trauma, highlighting the importance of health care providers' (HCPs) comfort discussing trauma in the primary care setting. This study used mixed methods, including qualitative content analysis, to (1) document HCPs' trauma-related comfort levels and factors contributing to discomfort and (2) examine the associations between provider-level factors and comfort. Materials and Methods: Direct patient care providers (74.6% physicians/residents; 68.7% women; 44.8% White; Mage = 36.7 years, SDage = 9.8) were recruited from primary care clinics in an urban public hospital system in the United States to complete a survey assessing trauma-related comfort; responses to open-ended prompts were coded by independent raters. Results: Few HCPs endorsed comfort providing care to patients with known trauma histories (29.8%), most often citing limited knowledge and fear of exacerbating symptoms as contributors to discomfort. HCPs most often endorsed formal education and integrated behavioral health teams as having enhanced their comfort providing trauma-informed care; 59.2% indicated that receiving formal education would further increase comfort. HCPs' comfort was unrelated provider-level factors other than department, F (2,53) =6.56, P = 0.003, and race, F (2,52) =5.69, P = 0.006. Discussion: Findings provide critical context to HCPs' trauma-related discomfort as well as actionable next steps to increase trauma-related comfort during primary care encounters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black pregnant and postpartum individuals are at risk for intimate partner violence (IPV), and those with a history of childhood maltreatment and IPV are even more likely to be re-victimized during pregnancy. However, it is unknown if specific types of child maltreatment predict later IPV with and without a weapon better than others. The current study sought to (i) document the prevalence of childhood maltreatment and IPV and (ii) examine the relations among types of childhood maltreatment and later IPV with and without a weapon within a sample of Black individuals seeking prenatal care at a large public hospital in the southeastern United States. Participants (n = 186; mean age = 27.2 years, SD = 5.3) completed measures assessing childhood maltreatment and IPV with and without a weapon. Approximately 68.5% of participants (n = 124) endorsed experiencing childhood maltreatment, while 42.6% (n = 78) endorsed experiencing IPV. The bivariate relations among five childhood maltreatment types (i.e., sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, physical and emotional neglect) and IPV with and without a weapon were assessed. All childhood maltreatment subtype scores—except childhood physical neglect—were significantly higher among participants who reported a history of IPV with or without a weapon compared to participants who denied a history of IPV with or without a weapon. Logistic regression models revealed childhood sexual abuse emerged as the only significant predictor of experiencing IPV with a weapon (B = 0.10, p =.003) and IPV without a weapon (B = 0.11, p =.001). For every point increase in childhood sexual abuse subtype score, the odds of experiencing IPV with and without a weapon increased by 10% (OR = 1.10, 95%CI [1.04, 1.18]) and 12% (OR = 1.12, [1.05, 1.20]), respectively. Findings suggest that screening for childhood sexual abuse may provide a critical opportunity for maternity care providers to identify individuals at increased risk for IPV victimization with and without a weapon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Public health systems need evidence-based, feasible, and acceptable preventive interventions for trauma-exposed Black Americans. Self-compassion often serves as a protective factor following trauma exposure, but whether it alleviates risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and the extent to which it buffers against the deleterious effects of particular trauma types in a high-risk, community sample remains unknown. The present study examined whether the association between various trauma types (noninterpersonal vs. physical vs. sexual) and PTSD symptom severity was moderated by self-compassion in a sample of trauma-exposed Black Americans seeking primary care., Method: Participants ( n = 77; 87.5% female; M age = 45.3 years; SD age = 12.8) were recruited from a large, publicly funded health care system. Participants completed self-report measures assessing trauma history and self-compassion and a structured clinical interview administered by a trained clinician., Results: Cumulative sexual violence, r (77) = .32, p < .01, was positively associated with PTSD symptom severity, whereas cumulative noninterpersonal trauma was not; the relation between cumulative physical violence and PTSD symptom severity was trending toward significance, r = .22, p = .06. The interactions between noninterpersonal trauma/sexual violence, self-compassion, and PTSD symptom severity were trending toward significance, and a significant interaction between physical violence and self-compassion was observed, B = 1.94, SE = .67, p < .01, at high, t = 3.21, p < .01, levels of self-compassion., Conclusions: Implementing brief, mindfulness-based psychotherapies that enhance self-compassion in the primary care setting may help mitigate PTSD risk among Black Americans with lower levels of physical violence and noninterpersonal trauma exposure and those with higher levels of sexual violence exposure. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).