Post-Traumatic Growth After Sexual Assault Using Rodgers Evolutionary Concept Analysis

Caring for someone after a sexual assault requires specialized knowledge that aligns with nursing practice, which focuses on a person’s overall physical, mental, and spiritual health, well-being, psychosocial needs, and disease prevention. Sexual assault is a common personal trauma requiring time for recovery that varies from person to person. Post-traumatic growth, or life changes that may occur following sexual assault, is an understudied phenomenon. Defining, conceptualizing, and analyzing post-traumatic growth among women following sexual assault informs nursing practice and the patient’s expected recovery. The purpose of conceptualizing post-traumatic growth is to assist in understanding this phenomenon. Using the Rodgers’ Method to provide a structured concept analysis helps to define post-traumatic growth after experiencing a sexual assault by facilitating an application of the assault experience to trauma-informed person-centered care in nursing. Rodgers’ framework for concept analysis resulted in discoveries that inform nursing practices about essential interventions, which include the establishment of safety, voice, choice, and transparency when working with persons who are experiencing post-traumatic growth in the aftermath of a sexual assault. The analysis of existing literature revealed attributes of coping and processing and related concepts of resilience and optimism. Antecedents include personal lived experiences with unresolved trauma, childhood abuse, mental distress, disruption of core beliefs, shame, self-blame, anxiety, and depression. Consequences include a perceived control over their personal recovery and, when present, lower rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—a higher power with feelings of forgiveness added to understanding the consequences and potential for healing.