Author(s)

Helen Harris¹, Viviana Urdaneta², Viviana Triana³, Charity Samantha Vo⁴, Destinee Walden⁵, Dennis Myers¹

¹Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA.
²Private Practice, Oakland, CA, USA.
³The Pastoral Counseling Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
⁴Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA.
⁵Community Options for Families and Youth, Pleasant Hill, CA, USA.

This pilot study compared two evidence-informed group treatment methods with 19 Spanish-speaking Latina survivors of domestic violence. Spanish-speaking therapists trained in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TFCBT) led the groups. Assessments of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in participants using the SPRINT instrument taken after psychoeducational preparation/prior to trauma processing, and at the end of treatment demonstrated improvement in participants in the EMDR groups and in the TFCBT groups with more reduction of PTSD symptoms in the EMDR groups, although the findings are limited by small sample size and so are not generalizable. The results suggest that there is a need for additional study both on the effectiveness of group treatment for this population and on the best evidence-based approaches.

PTSD, Survivors, Sexual Trauma, Latinas, EMDR, TFCBT

Harris, H. , Urdaneta, V. , Triana, V. , Vo, C. , Walden, D. and Myers, D. (2018) A Pilot Study with Spanish-Speaking Latina Survivors of Domestic Violence Comparing EMDR & TF-CBT Group Interventions. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 6, 203-222. doi: 10.4236/jss.2018.611015.