Nurse Ambassadors as a Trauma-Informed Strategy to Encourage Rural Migrant Populations’ Use of Sexual Assault Victim Service

Abstract

Rural migrants are vital to rural areas in terms of their engagement in the agricultural economy and as the fastest growing population in rural areas in the United States. Yet, rural migrants do not have access to all the education, services, and resources they need, including sexual assault education and care. In this paper we consider a novel approach, a Nurse Ambassador model that integrates trauma-informed care, as a strategy to increase knowledge about and access to sexual assault services for members of a large rural migrant community. A nurse practitioner specialized in sexual assault, in the Nurse Ambassador role, can offer expertise from direct clinical care to targeted educational support. Nurse Ambassador programs have been used effectively within patient support programs to provide clinical and/or educational support to clients perceived to be at risk for treatment abandonment or medication non-adherence and to decrease overall health care costs for patients with chronic diseases. Yet there is no research on their utilization to address sexual assault. Using a case study approach grounded in a community assessment of a rural area in a southern state, we share a first-person narrative from a Nurse Ambassador working within a rape crisis center to describe how such a position might facilitate community-based knowledge-building and enhanced trauma-informed service delivery, specifically for rural migrant survivors. Our study details the responsibilities, strategies, engagements, challenges and opportunities for a Nurse Ambassador model working to educate about and provide services to address sexual assault in a rural domain.