Although research and intervention efforts in the United States have aimed to reduce teen dating violence (TDV), 10-year prevalence estimates suggest that TDV persists. Safety planning is an advocated intervention to reduce intimate partner abuse; yet, safety planning services for adolescents have not been systematically developed or tested. Personalized safety planning interventions that reflect teens’ immediate risk, priorities, and resources may be a key prevention and empowerment tool. Thus, the current study examined adolescent perceptions of an existing safety planning app, myPlan. A small convenience sample of adolescents participated in focus groups. Focus groups investigated the feasibility of an app for TDV intervention and elicited feedback on how apps can better assist adolescents experiencing dating violence. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify themes and patterns in the data. The following themes emerged: (a) careful and thoughtful inclusion of diverse adolescents, (b) capturing unique safety dilemmas encountered by adolescents, (c) clarifying the signs of an unhealthy and abusive relationship, and (d) resources for immediate help. Adolescents were thoughtful in their consideration of the myPlan app and articulated specific ways in which future applications could be more responsive to their lived experiences and challenges. Mobile app or electronic interventions that are developed with an eye toward empowering adolescents to understand how abusive behaviors may manifest in their relationships, weigh the risk and benefits of intervening, and are informed about local resources available to them for help may be most successful in reducing TDV.
Initial conceptualizations of violence and trauma in forensic nursing have remained relatively narrowly defined since the specialty's inception. The advent of trauma-informed care has been important but has limitations that obfuscate social and structural determinants of health, equity, and social justice. As forensic nursing practice becomes more complex, narrow definitions of violence and trauma limit the effectiveness of trauma-informed care in its current incarnation. In keeping with the nursing model of holistic care, we need ways to teach, practice, and conduct research that can accommodate these increasing levels of complexity, including expanding our conceptualizations of violence and trauma to advance health equity and social justice. The objective of this article is to introduce the concepts of structural violence and trauma- and violence-informed care as equity-oriented critical paradigms to embrace the increasing complexity and health inequities facing forensic nursing practice.
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