The Generational Trauma Card: A Tool to Educate on Intergenerational Trauma Transmission

Abstract

Communication related to intergenerational trauma has the potential to mitigate the health impact of traumatic exposures for caregivers and also to prevent traumatic exposures and chronic stress for offspring. Pediatricians reviewed a generational trauma card (GTC), a graphic depicting generational trauma transfer and strategies to address the health effects of trauma exposure, with 21 adolescent mothers in a primary care clinic. On a Likert scale of 1–5, participants rated high interest in learning about generational trauma (4.2), likelihood of sharing the information with others (4.6) and potential of making changes in their life based on the information (4.5).