Skills Training for Family Medicine Residents to Attenuate the Impact of Childhood Trauma: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Toxic stress and trauma are prevalent in the pediatric population. The sequela can be significant, leading to disruptive behaviors in early childhood to chronic medical conditions in adulthood. Two factors that can mitigate negative outcomes of developmental traumatic stress include relational health care and healthy parental relationships. Family physicians are poised to play a significant role in both attenuating factors. Therefore, focused pediatric trauma-informed knowledge and skills training for family medicine residents is important. Methods: One family medicine residency program added a training module for residents, with two objectives: increase in-exam room trauma-informed interaction skills, and increase knowledge and skills for physicians to coach parents on strengthening the parent-child relationship. The training included didactics and skills training. Knowledge and skills were measured pre- and posttraining. Results: A total of 39 residents participated in the study over 3 years. The knowledge score increased by 4.49 points from pre- to posttraining. The number of trauma-informed interactional skills the residents demonstrated at posttraining had increased significantly. During the pilot, all participants moved from below mastery of skills to full mastery. Conclusions: After being instructed in best practices in trauma-informed pediatric interactions, residents demonstrated an increased number of behaviors that cultivate pediatric relational health care. Residents demonstrated knowledge and skills gains that denoted their ability to interact with patients and coach parents in evidence-based ways that can mitigate the impact of childhood trauma exposure.