TRAUMA-INFORMED PRACTICE AMONG EXERCISE PROFESSIONALS AS A DEVELOPING DETERMINANT OF EXERCISE BEHAVIOR FOR SURVIVORS OF SEXUAL ABUSE

Abstract

Physical activity and exercise fosters wellness in multiple dimensions of a person’s health. For some survivors of sexual abuse, safety is a foundational aspect of exercise programming. Client-centered practice includes awareness of stress responses and the importance of interpersonal communication on health outcomes. It is helpful for fitness professionals to obtain the knowledge necessary to create safe provider-client relationships. Trauma-informed exercise professionals can prescribe exercises to survivors of abuse as part of safe and effective programming. Research addressing interpersonal barriers to exercise caused by exercise professionals’ lack of trauma-informed instruction presents a gap in knowledge surrounding best practices. Before educating exercise professionals in trauma-informed practices for exercise instruction, current professional competencies must be measured. Professionals who have experienced trauma or abuse may have unique understandings of the impact of trauma on exercise and may instruct exercise with greater sensitivity or trauma-awareness. The Sexual Abuse Assessment Tool [SAAT] was used to test exercise professionals’ (N=61) competencies regarding training survivors of abuse. When controlling for job title, participant sex, and participant age, there was not a significant linear relationship between participants’ own adverse childhood experiences [ACEs] scores and total SAAT scores. Professionals who practice physical therapy scored significantly lower on assessment items related to sexual abuse and health concerns when compared to personal trainers. The SAAT was tested for internal consistency and validity. A correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between the full scale and individual domains with the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form [TEIQue-SF] and the Final 21-item Scale to Assess Staff Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Related to Trauma-informed Care [TIC KAP]. Cronbach’s alpha, alpha if item were removed, inter-item and item-total correlations were analyzed to ensure retained items were internally consistent. The proposed domain structure was tested using an exploratory factor analysis. Analyses from this study indicate that the SAAT is a reliable assessment tool (α = .87) featuring five content domains. The proposed revised scale includes 41 items and is ready for the final stages of development. The SAAT is useful for assessing exercise professionals’ competencies and sensitive practice when training and instructing survivors of sexual abuse.