Pediatric Medical Traumatic Stress and Trauma-Informed Care in Pediatric Chronic Illness: A Healthcare Provider Survey

Abstract

Objective: To inform approaches to pediatric medical traumatic stress (PMTS) by exploring providers' (1) perception of the impact of PMTS on the medical care of patients with pediatric-onset chronic illnesses, (2) self-reported competencies and practices of PMTS prevention, treatment, and counseling, and (3) perception of the barriers influencing the adoption of these practices.

Study design: A convenience sample of multidisciplinary healthcare providers was recruited through a multimodal recruitment strategy to participate in an electronic survey adapted from the Trauma-Informed Care Provider Survey.

Results: Among participants (n = 304), 99% agreed that PMTS impacts patient health. Participants report altering medical care plans due to PMTS, including deferring or stopping treatments (n = 98 [32%]) and changing medication regimens (n = 88 [29%]). Sixty-eight percent (n = 208) report negative impact of PMTS on patient implementation of medical care plans, including medication nonadherence (n = 153 [50%]) and missed appointments (n = 119 [39%]). Although participants agreed it is their job to decrease patient stress (n = 292 [96%]) and perform PMTS assessments (n = 268 [88%]), few practiced PMTS-focused trauma informed care. Systems-level barriers to practice included insufficient training, absent clinical workflows, and lack of access to mental health experts.

Conclusions: Our findings have helped inform a conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between PMTS and health outcomes. Systems-level opportunities to optimize PMTS-focused trauma-informed care include (1) dissemination of provider training, (2) integrated workflows for PMTS mitigation, and (3) enhanced accessibility to mental health providers. Further work is required to determine if these interventions can improve health outcomes in patients with pediatric-onset chronic illnesses.

Keywords: chronic disease; iatrogenic trauma; multidisciplinary care; post-traumatic stress.