Trauma-Informed Yoga: A Capacity Building and Wellness Strengthening Intervention for Female Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence and Affiliative Staff
Sarah Beranbaum and Wendy D’Andrea | New School for Social Research
Exhale to Inhale and the New School for Social Research are proud to announce the publication of our work in the Violence Against Women Journal in October 2023. Launched in March 1995, Violence Against Women is a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal that focuses on gender-based violence against women in all forms and across cultural and national boundaries, publishing a wide range of articles,
Abstract: This evaluation examines the impacts of Exhale to Inhale’s trauma-informed yoga (TIY) on stress, somatic complaints, and self-efficacy among female survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) and affiliated staff in community-based domestic violence agencies. A two-phase study design was employed, the first of which collected data from in-person group classes and the second from remotely taught classes due to COVID-19 safety restrictions. Collected over 3 years, 526 female survivors (n=361) and staff (n =165) from 66 domestic violence agencies completed surveys revealing improved stress, somatic complaints, and self-efficacy following a single TIY session. TIY serves as a capacity-building intervention that is suitable and adaptable for survivors of IPV and the staff at domestic violence agencies.