A Trauma-Informed Workshop Targeting the Attitudes of Mental Health Providers in a Rural, Racially Diverse Community Bordering Tribal lands

Purpose This study examines a three-day trauma informed workshop with 32 mental health providers in a rural community that borders an American Indian reservation to determine if there is an association with positive trauma-informed care (TIC) attitudes. Methods Thirty-two workshop participants were invited to take the Attitudes Related to Trauma Informed Care (ARTIC-45) scale pre-workshop, post-, and six months- after the workshop. Results were analyzed at the group-level using t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests for subscales that were not normally distributed. Results Pre- to Post- (Time 1) findings reveal statistically significant positive changes in all ARTIC subscales. However, post-workshop to six months follow-up (Time 2) four subscales showed statistically significant decreases. This seems to be an indication that these trauma-informed attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs had gotten worse with time. There were three subscales without significant change. Conclusion The findings should be interpreted with caution but point to plausible implications related to the decline in trauma-informed attitudes such as, lack of ongoing training following the workshop, limitations in workforce and resources within the rural community, unaddressed implicit bias, and needing more organizational leadership buy-in and resources.