A nurse practitioner-led intervention for runaway adolescents who have been sexually assaulted or sexually exploited: Effects on trauma symptoms, suicidality, and self-injury.

BACKGROUND: Adolescent victims of sexual assault and exploitation suffer significant mental health distress including PTSD, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and attempts.

OBJECTIVE: This longitudinal observational study investigated the Runaway Intervention Program's influence on trauma responses at 3, 6, and 12 months for adolescents who have run away at least once and have been sexually assaulted or exploited.

PARTICIPANTS: Runaways (n = 362) received nurse practitioner (NP) home and community visits, intensive case management, and optional empowerment groups.

SETTING: An urban Midwestern city's hospital-based Children's Advocacy Center.

METHODS: Trauma responses were measured by the UCLA PTSD-RI index, past 30 days emotional distress scale, and self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt questions. Repeated Measures ANOVA assessed trauma response changes over time. Growth curve analyses using intervention doses determined which aspects of the intervention predicted change.

RESULTS: From program entry to 3 and 6 months, mean values decreased significantly for emotional distress (-0.67, -.91) self-harm (-.30, -.55), suicidal ideation (-.45, -.57), suicide attempts (-.58, -.61), and trauma symptoms (-11.8, -16.2, all p < .001) all maintained at 12 months. In growth curve models, NP visits independently predicted declines in emotional distress (-.038), self-injury (-.020), suicidal ideation (-.025) and attempts (-.032), while empowerment groups predicted trauma symptoms (-.525) and all others except suicide attempts.

CONCLUSIONS: The program, especially NP community visits and empowerment group elements, decreased trauma responses in runaway youth with a history of sexual assault. Given high rates of PTSD and emotional distress among runaways, the Runaway Intervention Program offers promise for improving mental health outcomes.