PHC6451 - Introducing Mindfulness Practices to Domestic Violence Victims Residing in Shelter

Heather Vecsey and Tran Tran - Summer 2023

Domestic violence (DV) is a prevalent public health issue in Oklahoma, affecting individuals of all ages, races, genders, and socioeconomic statuses (Oklahoma State Department of Health, n.d.). Approximately 49.1% of Oklahoma women and 40.7% of men experience a form of intimate partner violence (IPV) or stalking in their life; and Oklahoma consistently exhibited one of the highest rates of DV and femicide (Humphrey, 2023). Violence can leave long-term physical and mental health problems in victims, including chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety, and can result in unemployment and homelessness (Office on Women’s Health, 2021). It is evident that Oklahoma residents need tailored interventions to alleviate the adverse mental and psychological impact (Humphrey, 2023).

We propose a mindfulness-based intervention to address this issue, which we named “Mindfulness Forward”. In recent years, mindfulness has been gaining attention as a feasible treatment approach for trauma survivors. Through mindfulness practice, people learn to pay more attention to the present experiences and learn to process negative emotions from trauma effectively instead of suppressing them (National Center for PTSD). Mindfulness has been observed to reduce post-traumatic stress symptoms, improve attention, and strengthen emotional regulation (Gallegos et al., 2020). Mindfulness-based interventions were also shown to be accepted by ethnically diverse study participants (Dutton et al., 2013). By calling our program “Mindfulness Forward”, we want to inspire the concept of participants using mindfulness to move past their trauma.

Our intervention is a 6-week program with once-a-week participation. The program will offer different options for mindfulness practice that the participants can choose based on their comfort levels. Certified staff will guide participants through exercises to cultivate new coping skills and build resilience.

Here are some impact we intended for our program to have at each level of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (2022)’s socioecological level.

• Individual:
  • Gain skills necessary to practice mindfulness independently at anytime.
  • Relieve symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
  • Reduce triggers and stressors.
• Relationship
  • Staff from the program are trained to recognize PTSD symptoms, along with providing essential support to individuals to encourage the development of healthy relationships and the removal of abusive relationships.
• Community
  • Program marketing products (poster and radio advertisement) will raise awareness on domestic violence issue throughout the Tulsa community.
  • Create an inclusive environment for Tulsa women to practice mindfulness and offer support to other survivors.
• Society
  • Raise awareness to Tulsa’s domestic violence issue
  • Reduce stigma and increase empathy towards victims.

References

CDC. (2022, January 18). The Social-Ecological Model: A Framework for Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/violencepr...ecologicalmodel.html

Dutton, M. A., Bermudez, D., Matas, A., Majid, H., & Myers, N. L. (2013). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Low-Income, Predominantly African American Women With PTSD and a History of Intimate Partner Violence. Cognitive and behavioral practice, 20(1), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2011.08.003

Gallegos, A. M., Heffner, K. L., Cerulli, C., Luck, P., McGuinness, S., & Pigeon, W. R. (2020). Effects of mindfulness training on posttraumatic stress symptoms from a community-based pilot clinical trial among survivors of intimate partner violence. Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy, 12(8), 859–868. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000975

Humphrey, S. (2023, March 14). Survivor advocates hope for change after Oklahoma ranks first in nation for domestic violence rate. Www.fox23.com. https://www.fox23.com/news/loc...text=TULSA%2C%20Okla.

National Center for PTSD. (n.d.). Mindfulness practice in the treatment of traumatic stress. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/gethelp/mindfulness_tx.asp

Office on Women’s Health. (2021, March 1). Effects of violence against women. https://www.womenshealth.gov/r...olence-against-women

Oklahoma State Department of Health. (n.d.). Intimate Partner Violence. https://oklahoma.gov/health/he...artner-violence.html