Trauma-informed care (TIC) has gained significant traction in social work over the last decade, becoming a key organizing principle despite a dearth of empirical evidence attesting to its effectiveness. Addressing this paradox, our scoping review examines TIC’s conceptualization and application in the field, exploring its theoretical underpinnings and empirical support. We analyzed 131 peer-reviewed articles from 2012 to 2022, following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework, with inclusion criteria focused on English-language, peer-reviewed journal articles on TIC within U.S. social work. The identification of articles involved a systematic search across three online databases—Social Service Abstracts, Social Science Citation Index, and Social Work Abstracts—using the search terms “trauma informed*” and “social work” to capture relevant articles through keywords, subject headings, and titles. Our analysis revealed a broad understanding of trauma and a tendency toward emphasizing individual-level experiences, with infrequent acknowledgment of institutional or structural trauma. While TIC is applied across diverse domains, particularly in education and child welfare, its practical application lacks clarity and specificity. Critically, we found a reliance on the perceived prevalence of trauma rather than robust research to justify TIC’s adoption. The inconsistent use of theory, primarily at the micro-level, and the wide range of practices resembling established social work methods raise questions about TIC’s distinctiveness and unique contribution. Considering these findings, we urge a critical reassessment of TIC, focusing on its implications for practice and research.

中文翻译：

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绘制社会工作中创伤知情护理的前景：批判性范围界定审查


创伤知情护理 （TIC） 在过去十年中在社会工作中获得了巨大的关注，尽管缺乏证明其有效性的经验证据，但它已成为一项关键的组织原则。为了解决这一悖论，我们的范围界定回顾研究了 TIC 在该领域的概念化和应用，探讨了其理论基础和实证支持。我们遵循 Arksey 和 O'Malley 的框架分析了 2012 年至 2022 年的 131 篇同行评议文章，纳入标准侧重于美国社会工作中关于 TIC 的英语同行评议期刊文章。文章的识别涉及对三个在线数据库（Social Service Abstracts、Social Science Citation Index 和 Social Work Abstracts）进行系统检索，使用搜索词“trauma informed*”和“social work”通过关键字、主题词和标题来捕获相关文章。我们的分析揭示了对创伤的广泛理解，并倾向于强调个人层面的经历，很少承认制度或结构性创伤。虽然 TIC 应用于不同的领域，尤其是教育和儿童福利，但其实际应用缺乏明确性和特异性。至关重要的是，我们发现依赖感知到的创伤普遍性而不是强大的研究来证明 TIC 的采用是合理的。理论的不一致使用，主要是在微观层面，以及类似于既定社会工作方法的广泛实践，引发了对 TIC 的独特性和独特贡献的质疑。考虑到这些发现，我们敦促对 TIC 进行批判性的重新评估，重点关注其对实践和研究的影响。