Online Psychosocial Intervention for Nursing Students Who Experienced Intimate Partner Abuse in Turkey

Online Psychosocial Intervention for Nursing Students Who Experienced Intimate Partner Abuse in Turkey: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Intimate partner abuse is very common among university students. Post-traumatic stress disorder is one of the most serious mental diseases caused by intimate partner abuse.The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of an internet-based psychosocial intervention based on Social Learning Theory and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy approaches on post-traumatic stress and growth in student nurses who had experienced intimate partner abuse.

Background: Intimate partner abuse is very common among university students. Post-traumatic stress disorder is one of the most serious mental diseases caused by intimate partner abuse. An intervention with evidence-based applications to post-traumatic stress caused by intimate partner abuse and posttraumatic growth, using web-based applications that young people are familiar with, is considered important in order to protect the physical-mental health of university students, to increase their academic success, and to ensure that they establish healthy intimate partner relationships in the future.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of an internet-based psychosocial intervention based on Social Learning Theory and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy approaches on post-traumatic stress and growth in student nurses who had experienced intimate partner abuse.

Methods: The randomized controlled study that did not use blinding employed a 2x5 split-plot design. The universe of the study consisted of 371 student nurses. Students who met the eligibility criteria were randomly assigned to one of the two groups: experimental (n=17) and control (n=18). The internet-based psychosocial intervention, which was based on Social Learning Theory and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques, was delivered individually and electronically to the students in the experimental group in eight sessions, each lasting up to 120 minutes, using videoconferencing. The Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PGTI) were used to measure the outcomes at the pre-test, post-test, 1-month follow-up, 3-month follow-up, and 6-month follow-up.

Discussion: The internet-based psychosocial intervention was found to be effective in reducing post-traumatic stress and experiencing post-traumatic growth in student nurses who had been exposed to partner violence with these positive effects lasting for six months. This study is one of the first web-based randomized controlled studies to address post-traumatic stress and growth together in university students who were exposed to intimate partner violence. It is hoped that the results of the study will guide the research to be carried out in this context by internet intervention in the future.

* This research was carried out as part of the Ege University Institute of Health Sciences Psychiatric Nursing Doctoral Thesis.

Funding: No funding

Inclusion Criteria:

• Must be at least 18 years of age
• Must have access to a computer and internet
• Must able to read and understand the Turkish language
• Must experience intimate partner abuse
• Must break up with the abuse perpetrator intimate partner
• Must be on a current stable dose of psychiatric medication (for at least the last 3 months) or do not use psychiatric medication
• Must display symptoms of post-traumatic stress (must get a score of 24 or more in the Impact of Events Scale-Revised)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Have be currently married
• Have a high risk of suicide
• Have a psychotic symptom
• Have a dissociative symptom
• Have a risky alcohol and substance use
• Have a receive a non-drug psychiatric treatment