Objective: Recovering from Intimate Partner Violence through Strengths and Empowerment (RISE) is a brief, variable-length (1-6 sessions), modular, individualized psychosocial counseling intervention for women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). Pilot findings demonstrated the potential helpfulness, acceptability, and feasibility of RISE; however, a randomized clinical trial (RCT) is needed to support program effectiveness. Methods: This RCT enrolled 60 women who experienced

This article describes the rationale, development, and preliminary examination of a brief, variable-length (up to six sessions), modular-based counseling intervention for women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV). Recovering from IPV through Strengths and Empowerment (RISE) is an empowerment and skills-focused treatment that incorporates Motivational Interviewing. RISE was developed to fill the gap in interventions for women who disclose IPV within integrated healthcare settings such as the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Fifteen women Veterans with past-year IPV participated in an open trial at two VHA hospitals to evaluate the potential helpfulness, feasibility, and acceptability of RISE using a mixed-methods approach to assessment. Qualitative feedback from women Veterans and five RISE clinicians (psychologists and social workers) was collected posttreatment. Descriptive analyses of quantitative psychosocial outcomes before and after the intervention provide evidence of support for RISE as potentially helpful in improving psychosocial well-being. High retention and high satisfaction ratings, along with positive qualitative feedback from both IPV survivor participants and clinicians, supported intervention feasibility and acceptability. Overall, this pilot study offers feasibility and acceptability data for RISE as a potentially helpful intervention for women experiencing past-year

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been found to lead to several adverse perinatal outcomes in the general population. Preliminary research has found that women veterans with PTSD have an increased prevalence of preterm birth, gestational diabetes, and preeclampsia. Less research has examined the role of moral injury (MI) in perinatal outcomes. This longitudinal survey study examined the impact of PTSD symptoms and MI on prospectively assessed adverse perinatal outcomes among women who became pregnant in the first 3 years after separating from U.S. military service (N = 318). The Moral Injury Events Scale was used to assess the degree to which individuals experienced distress related to transgressions of deeply held moral beliefs, and the Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM‐5 (PC‐PTSD) was used to assess PTSD symptoms. Perinatal outcomes included experiencing an adverse pregnancy outcome (e.g., preterm birth, gestational diabetes), postpartum depression and/or anxiety, and perceived difficult pregnancy. Although both PTSD symptoms, adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.16, 95% CI [1.00, 1.35]; and MI, aOR = 1.27, 95% CI [1.06, 1.41], emerged as significant predictors of adverse pregnancy outcomes, only PTSD symptoms were a significant predictor of postpartum depression and/or anxiety, aOR = 1.43, 95% CI [1.22, 1.68], and perception of a difficult pregnancy, β = .31, when controlling for lifetime trauma exposure, age, socioeconomic status, and ethnic/racial minority status. The results indicate that both PTSD symptoms and MI are associated with adverse perinatal outcomes, supporting the potential need to screen for both PTSD and MI during the perinatal period.