The Unwelcome Guest: Working with Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors in Reproductive Health Care.

Health care providers (HCPs) are often poorly prepared to respond to childhood sexual abuse (CSA) survivors' needs in reproductive health care. With few protocols addressing the CSA survivor population, HCPs struggle with delivering interventions that meet professional standards of care within the systemic constraints of reproductive health care. To bridge the gap that exists when the unwelcome guest of CSA enters the reproductive health care arena, it is important to understand the psychological influences of trauma that affect CSA survivors, the symptoms or behavioral cues that are commonly revealed, and therapeutic approaches that can facilitate positive patient-provider experiences in health care.