Historical Trauma, Health Care Distrust, and the Legacy of Tuskegee: Implications for Nurse Practitioner Practice and Research

Nurse practitioners (NPs) represent a strong cadre of healers and researchers active in a global quest to eliminate health disparities and create health equity. Barriers to health care result in a disproportionate burden of disease/disability on marginalized groups. Historical trauma results in or contributes to health care distrust manifested as a unique type of barrier with implications for nurse practitioners in research and practice. The legacy of Tuskegee is a reminder and a sentinel exemplar of how Black American male participants in “The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” (the United States Public Health Services Study at Tuskegee) experienced historical trauma and how intergenerational trauma is linked to negative health care outcomes.
Source: The Journal for Nurse Practitioners - Category: Nursing Authors: Tags: Featured Article Source Type: research