Experiences of Trauma and Implications for Nurses Caring for Undocumented Immigrant Women and Refugee Women

Experiences of trauma affect the health needs of women across all groups, particularly in vulnerable populations such as undocumented immigrant women or refugee women. Nurses across inpatient and outpatient settings providing care to these women can consider how women's experiences of trauma and barriers they encounter to accessing resources may affect their experience of health care. In this article, we review two recent studies in which researchers examined the experiences of trauma and posttraumatic stress in women who are undocumented immigrants or refugees. Implications for nursing practice, including the importance of providing trauma-informed care, are discussed.