Staying Connected: Trauma Center to Tribal Community Linkage for Physically Injured American Indian Patients

American Indians are at a greater risk for traumatic life events than the general population and compared to Whites they have a 2.04 (95% CI 1.11, 3.54) fold increased risk of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Among more than 2,900 injured trauma survivors treated at 69 hospitals nationwide, American Indians had the highest risk of all racial/ethnic groups of developing symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of PTSD 12 months after injury. Similarly, among 269 traumatically injured patients hospitalized at 2 level 1 trauma centers in the Western U.S., PTSD and peritraumatic dissociative symptoms were significantly more frequent among American Indians compared to Whites.

Nine percent of 6,000 injured trauma survivors admitted annually to the Harborview Level 1 trauma center are American Indian. Approximately 40 percent of these patients live more than 50 miles from the trauma center, including tribal communities in Eastern Washington and the Olympic Peninsula. Through prior work, researchers have found that care management interventions can reduce PTSD symptoms among diverse injured urban patients. Investigators from the Center of Excellence suggest that American Indian trauma survivors may have unique culture-specific idioms for posttraumatic distress (e.g. "wounded spirit"), and that trauma interventions with indigenous approaches may be productively applied to patients suffering from posttraumatic distress.(5)

In an effort to reduce the risk of PTSD and other general symptoms of trauma among American Indians, we plan to conduct a pilot study to develop and evaluate an American Indian culture specific care management intervention, Staying Connected.

Based on the Trauma Survivors and Support Study (TSOS), the purpose of Staying Connected is to provide American Indian trauma patients, treated at the Harborview Level 1 urban trauma center, compassionate and culturally sensitive care and to link them to care in their distant tribal communities. The specific aims include 1) interview Native healers to gather information on culture-specific aspects of recovery from traumatic injury and on linking care to tribal communities, 2) conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the intervention. We hypothesize that intervention patients will demonstrate greater improvement than controls in PTSD symptoms, depression, functioning, diagnoses, and fewer new injuries during the 6 months after the index injury.

Inclusion criteria

• Harborview trauma patient 18 years or older
• self identify as American Indian or Alaska Native
• speak English

Exclusion criteria

• non-American Indian or Alaska Native status reported
• monolingual non-English speaking status
• age < 18 years
• old head, spinal cord or other injuries that prevent participation in the interview
• any self-inflicted injury, active psychosis, mania, and victims of intimate partner violence who require immediate intervention
• currently incarcerated patients or a recent history of severe violence which will likely yield criminal charges