Trauma-Informed Reproductive Healthcare

Patients seeking fertility care may have experienced trauma prior to their fertility journey and often have experienced trauma as part of the fertility process itself. It is important for medical and administrative professionals that are involved in providing care to fertility patients to understand how to deliver care from a trauma-informed perspective. This is particularly important as the medical evaluation and treatment for fertility patients often involves invasive questions and procedures that can be particularly difficult for patients with a history of trauma. While exposure to trauma has an international impact, this book is focused primarily on the research and experiences of reproductive medicine patients in the United States. It begins with a broad overview of trauma-informed care, and then goes on to focus on several specific types of traumas that are likely to impact reproductive patients, including reproductive loss, sexual trauma, medical trauma, trauma perpetrated on individuals due to their sexual orientation or gender expression/identity, racial trauma or discrimination, and paramilitary trauma. The final chapters of the book are tailored to medical professionals, healthcare administrators and mental health professionals with recommendations for how to incorporate trauma-informed care for their specific role in the healthcare team. This text highlights how trauma-informed care principles apply to reproductive medicine and how trauma-informed care can support specific patient populations, such as those with a history of sexual trauma, medical trauma, reproductive loss, and patients that have experienced discrimination due to their sexual orientation, gender identity or race. Trauma-Informed Reproductive Healthcare provides specific recommendations and best practices for medical professionals and administrators in transforming their practice to be trauma-informed.