Description
Trauma, such as abuse, neglect, and violence, has evident lasting physical and mental health effects, such as chronic illness, behavioral changes, and depression. While trauma-informed care (TIC) helps providers recognize and respond to trauma, this training is often limited to mental health and social work fields. Many survivor populations never receive interventions designed with TIC in mind, restricting outcomes leading to reduced rehabilitation and reintegration.
Occupational therapy (OT) is fundamentally client-centered and functional, making it well suited for TIC. However, while they cover many similar topics, most OT programs do not include specific curriculum on TIC.
TIC education in OT school programs may lead to better outcomes for trauma survivors as future practitioners will be better equipped to apply TIC principles in interventions.
This project explores the use of TIC in developing and implementing a cooking skills program for survivors of human trafficking, which then serves as a case study within a TIC curriculum for OT students to promote TIC integration in future practice to improve survivor outcomes.
Publication Date
2025
Disciplines
Occupational Therapy
Recommended Citation
Pravinkumar, Natalie, "A Call for Integration of Trauma-Informed Care into Occupational Therapy: Improving Provider Competency Through a Case Study of a Cooking Skills Program for Survivors of Human Trafficking" (2025). OT Doctoral Capstones. 8.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/otcapstones/8