Nursing Publications

Contemporary Treatments for Psychological Trauma From the Perspective of Peacekeepers

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-2009

Journal

Canadian Journal of Nursing Research

Volume

41

Issue

2

First Page

114

Last Page

128

Abstract

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to examine contemporary treatment approaches for psychological trauma from the perspective of peacekeepers. Data were collected via audiotaped interviews with 10 contemporary peacekeepers who had been deployed to Somalia, Rwanda, or the former Yugoslavia. The participants were asked to describe their experience with various treatments for psychological trauma. Narratives from the transcribed interviews were reviewed with the participants and their comments solicited for rigour and verification of meaning. A thematic analysis of the text, conducted to examine the ways in which contemporary treatment approaches help peacekeepers to heal from trauma, revealed 3 themes: medications as helping the most, understanding what is going on, and self-healing as a journey of discovery. The embodied nature of healing from trauma among contemporary peacekeepers should not be overlooked. Studies on the efficacy of different treatment modalities for psychological trauma, including mind-body complementary therapies, are needed.

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