Assessing the Effectiveness of a Trauma-Oriented Approach to Treating Prostituted Women in a Prison and a Community Exiting Program

Abstract

Women who have been prostitutes are social work clients in many clinical, correctional, and community settings. Unique programming that addresses the high levels of trauma symptoms reported by prostituted women has yet to be explored. The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of a group trauma and abuse intervention for prostituted women from two settings, prison and a community exiting program. A quasi-experimental research design was used. Twenty-nine women participated in a 12-week psychoeducational trauma and abuse intervention program called Esuba. All participants reported decreases in trauma symptoms, but the prison group showed a greater number of significant changes in trauma symptomology than the community group. Implications for practice and future research implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• trauma interventions
• female inmates
• prison programming
• prisoners

The authors would like to thank the Dignity House Participants and Program in Phoenix, Arizona, and Kerensa Pate, MS, and Laura Bedard, PhD, from the Florida Department of Corrections for their support of this study.