Abstract
A recent meta-analysis revealed that nearly one-third of all working Registered Nurses have post-traumatic stress disorder. Nurses are also reporting high levels of depression, anxiety, and other physical and mental health consequences of traumatic stress exposure. While COVID-19 may have exacerbated some mental health conditions in nurses, many decades of research shows that nurses and other healthcare workers have long struggled with poor mental health. In order to address this issue, a group of Nursing Professional Development (NPD) practitioners at a multi-site healthcare system aimed to develop an evidence-based approach to addressing poor mental health in nurses and other healthcare workers. While counseling was available, many individuals would not seek out the service. The team realized that all nurses and healthcare workers come into contact with some type of professional development at various points in their career, so an intervention that involved professional development could have broad reach. The team worked to integrate the principles of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) trauma-informed approach and the Association for Nurses in Professional Development’s NPD Practice Model. The resulting framework was named Trauma-Informed Professional Development (TIPD). The goal of TIPD was to create a learning and practice environment that facilitated recovery after traumatic stress exposure and increased protective factors against the development of traumatic-stress related symptoms. As a group, the NPD practitioners worked to create specific interventions that aligned with TIPD; however, the group also was aware that any trauma-informed approach, including TIPD, would require a systematic approach and not just isolated interventions. SAMHSA provides a framework for applying a trauma-informed approach through 10 implementation domains. The team used these 10 domains to organize a move from a grassroots effort from a team of NPD’s to a system initiative. In this presentation, the speaker will review the actions taken across the 10 domains, lessons learned, and initial outcomes of the implementation of TIPD.
Notes
References:
Gilroy, H. (2022). The Healers Are Broken: A Call for Trauma-Informed Professional Development in Nursing. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, 38(5), 273-278.
Harper, M. & Maloney, P. (eds.) (2022). Nursing Professional Development Scope and Standards of Practice. (4th Ed).
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2014). SAMHSA's Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. Rockville, MD: Author.
Marvaldi, M., Mallet, J., Dubertret, C., Moro, M. R., & Guessoum, S. B. (2021). Anxiety, depression, trauma-related, and sleep disorders among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 126, 252-264.
Burton, C. W., Williams, J. R., & Anderson, J. (2019). Trauma-informed care education in baccalaureate nursing curricula in the United States: Applying the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials. Journal of forensic nursing, 15(4), 214-221.
Sigma Membership
Beta Beta (Houston)
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Psychological Trauma, Professional Development, Nursing Practice, Hospital Nursing Staff, Psychological Well-Being, Mental Health
Recommended Citation
Gilroy, Heidi, "Trauma-Informed Professional Development From Grassroots to System-Wide" (2026). Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE). 111.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2024/presentations_2024/111
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Washington, DC, USA
Conference Year
2024
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
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-02-26
Trauma-Informed Professional Development From Grassroots to System-Wide
Washington, DC, USA
A recent meta-analysis revealed that nearly one-third of all working Registered Nurses have post-traumatic stress disorder. Nurses are also reporting high levels of depression, anxiety, and other physical and mental health consequences of traumatic stress exposure. While COVID-19 may have exacerbated some mental health conditions in nurses, many decades of research shows that nurses and other healthcare workers have long struggled with poor mental health. In order to address this issue, a group of Nursing Professional Development (NPD) practitioners at a multi-site healthcare system aimed to develop an evidence-based approach to addressing poor mental health in nurses and other healthcare workers. While counseling was available, many individuals would not seek out the service. The team realized that all nurses and healthcare workers come into contact with some type of professional development at various points in their career, so an intervention that involved professional development could have broad reach. The team worked to integrate the principles of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) trauma-informed approach and the Association for Nurses in Professional Development’s NPD Practice Model. The resulting framework was named Trauma-Informed Professional Development (TIPD). The goal of TIPD was to create a learning and practice environment that facilitated recovery after traumatic stress exposure and increased protective factors against the development of traumatic-stress related symptoms. As a group, the NPD practitioners worked to create specific interventions that aligned with TIPD; however, the group also was aware that any trauma-informed approach, including TIPD, would require a systematic approach and not just isolated interventions. SAMHSA provides a framework for applying a trauma-informed approach through 10 implementation domains. The team used these 10 domains to organize a move from a grassroots effort from a team of NPD’s to a system initiative. In this presentation, the speaker will review the actions taken across the 10 domains, lessons learned, and initial outcomes of the implementation of TIPD.
Description
In this presentation, participants will learn about Trauma-Informed Professional Development as a strategy to improve mental health and how to implement it across a large organization.