Project Summary
Most primary care patients have lived through one or more traumatic events. Compared with people without a history of trauma, such patients tend to engage in less healthy behaviors, have more chronic medical conditions, and have more distress. Primary care providers and researchers at University of South Florida (USF) have begun to team up with the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay and patients to address the pervasive—and often hidden —role that trauma plays in patients’ lives. USF primary care clinics have begun to ask patients about their trauma history and offer counseling services in a community-based primary care clinic within an underserved neighborhood; however, we want to do more. What would it look like to deliver truly patient-centered, trauma-informed primary care? Would patients improve healthy behaviors, well-being, and physical functioning? Answering these questions requires a community-based, egalitarian partnership of many perspectives, including those of patients, providers, and researchers. We will form a 10-person partnership of patients, providers, administrators, and researchers in primary care, trauma, and mental health. Our goals are to establish partnership processes, guidelines, and governance that ensure all partners are engaged and provide input; learn from each other about the current state of practice and science; identify gaps in current practice and science; determine needs and resources to address these gaps; and begin to identify directions for comparative effectiveness research. To achieve these goals, we will meet monthly, develop an online portal for collaboration, regularly evaluate the partnership, and apply for a Tier B partnership-building grant.