Change in child trauma symptoms associated with caregiver support from “trauma educator”

Abstract

Background: Parental understanding of child trauma is often poor, and thus parents may not recognize symptoms or may respond in ways that exacerbate symptoms. Caregiver support for families of children who have disclosed sexual abuse has been demonstrated to positively impact outcomes for children (van Toledo and Seymour, 2016). Integration of a trauma educator into the medical setting to provide immediate and ongoing support to families may positively impact caregiver identification and response to child trauma symptoms. Similar to the “diabetes educator” role, a trauma educator identifies symptomatic children through trauma symptom …