Paper
Saturday, 22 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Children and Adolescents with Healthcare Issues
The Effects of Cumulative Trauma on the Physical and Mental Health of Adolescents in Two Cultural Groups: African Americans and Iraqi Refugees
Linda A. Lewandowski, PhD, RN, College of Nursing, Wayne State University/Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI, USA, Ibrahim Kira, PhD, Community Health and Research Center, Arab American Center for Economic and Social Services, Dearborn, MI, USA, Barbara Peterson, College of Nursing, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA, Rhonda L. Conner-Warren, MSN, RN, CPNP-PC, Doctoral Candidate, Wayne State University College of Nursing, Detroit, MI, USA, and Lisa Chiodo, PhD, SCHOOBE Project, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA.
Learning Objective #1: Differentiate cumulative trauma from single event trauma and give examples of each.
Learning Objective #2: Describe some of the physical and mental health effects of cumulative trauma in two different cultural groups.
 The notion of childhood as a time of blissful innocence is, unfortunately, not a reality for many children in the United Sates and around the world.  Many different groups of children and adolescents suffer cumulative trauma expereinces, i.e., multiple significant traumatic events and situations occuring repeatedly over time.  Youth who experience psychological trauma frequently have subsequesnt health and functioning difficulties.  However, much of our current understanding of trauma is based on single event trauma that does not adequately represent the effects of cumulative trauma. The overall purpose of this project is to explore the cumulative effects of various types of violence exposure and trauma on adolescents' mental and physical health as well as interpersonal, cognitive, behavioral, and academic functioning.  The sample consisted of 390 adolescents, ages 11-16, from two different cultural groups with high violence/trauma risk: urban, low income African American teens who live is a high violence neighborhood in Detroit (N+180) and youth from Iraqi refugee families currently living in the U.S. (N=210). An innovative data collection method we termed "youth retreats" was used to collect data.  Four day-long sessions (2 days for African American and 2 days for Iraqi youth; approximately 100 youth each day) interspersed 5 hours of data collection with educational sessions (e.g., anti-drug, healthy eating), crafts, fun activities, a magic show, pizza, and prizes.  The teens were separated into 10 groups (5 groups of girls, 5 groups of boys) and rotated to five different stations throughout the day. Cultural modifications were made to respect each population. Data analysis is now underway.  This presentaion will focus on the effects of cumulative trauma on the phsyical and mental health of the adolescents in these two cultural groups.  Implications for nurses in terms of assessment and intervention will be discussed.

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