Abstract

Background: Sexual violence is a widespread traumatic event that has physical, psychological, financial, and spiritual implications for victims, their friends and family, and the community. The negative and long-term effects include poor health outcomes, depression, substance abuse disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Many nurses who treat these patients are inadequately trained.

Purpose: The treatment of nurses towards patients who are victims of sexual violence can mitigate or contribute to perceived revictimization of patients. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the processes and uncover the attitudes and behaviors of nurses without specialized training who care for patients who are victims of sexual violence. Additionally, the purpose was to generate a theory that describes the process that these nurses use to make decisions about how to provide proper care.

Philosophical Underpinnings: This qualitative constructivist grounded theory study was guided by symbolic interactionism and pragmatist philosophy.

Method: Charmaz's grounded theory method of inquiry was used for this qualitative study. Data were collected with semistructured interviews with 13 emergency department nurses without specialized training in treating sexual violence victims and a focus group of five Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners. Data analysis took place with a constant comparative process to reveal the conceptual categories and themes. The focus group confirmed the categories.

Findings: Four themes emerged: Avoiding, Attempting, Analyzing, and Adjusting. The basic social process and substantive theory that emerged was Apprehending an Unknown Phenomenon. This framework provides an in-depth understanding of the decision making process of nurses caring for victims of sexual violence.

Conclusion: This study provided deeper understanding of nurses' perceptions and experiences in decisions to treat patients who experienced sexual violence. The theory developed can be used to guide nurses' decision making when they have little or no training on which to base their decisions. With further development of an evidence-based model, study findings should help improve outcomes for patients and reduce stress and anxiety in nurses who treat patients who have experienced traumatic sexual violence.

Description

The author retains copyright.

Dara M. Whalen

Author Details

Dara Whalen, PhD, APN, FNP-BC, CNE, SANE

Sigma Membership

Unknown

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Grounded Theory

Research Approach

Qualitative Research

Keywords:

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, Nurse Training

Advisors

Colin, Jessie M.||Colvin, Mary||Chin, Claudette R.||McFadden, John P.

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

Barry University

Degree Year

2016

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2017-12-21

Full Text of Presentation

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