TPC Journal-V6, Issue 4- FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor /Volume 6, Issue 4 329 Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been associated with exposure to physically, sexually and emotionally violent experiences (Ford, Grasso, Elhai, & Courtois, 2015). Traumatic stress symptoms are often more complicated to treat in circumstances when an individual has been exposed to prolonged or repeated violence. Furthermore, these symptoms are more likely to develop when survivors of violence feel a sense of betrayal from the perpetrator, which is often reported by those who experience sexual assault and domestic abuse (Ford et al., 2015). Researchers have concluded that these issues are more prevalent among Native Americans living on tribal lands (Malcoe, Duran, & Montgomery, 2004; Yuan, Koss, Polacca, & Goldman, 2006), which may suggest a higher likelihood for the development of PTSD when compared to other populations. Although PTSD is the mental health disorder most often associated with individuals who experience violence, depression (Cascardi, O’Leary, & Schlee, 1999) and anxiety (Pico-Alfonso et al., 2006) symptoms have been highly correlated to violence exposure. Clearly, those who survive violence are at high risk of developing mental health symptoms and can benefit from professional intervention. However, the experiences of Native Americans related to violence are not likely to be completely congruent to other populations (Sue & Sue, 2012). For this reason, it is crucial for counselors to gain increased competency in the unique factors impacting the Native American community in order to provide effective care. Violence Against Native American Women United States legislators acknowledged in the 2005 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that Native American women living on tribal lands were a particularly marginalized population (Crossland, Palmer, & Brooks, 2013). VAWA mandated that several governmental organizations begin a series of research efforts in order to better understand the prevalence and residual consequences experienced by this population when violence was present (Crossland et al., 2013). Bryant-Davis, Heewoon, and Tillman (2009) concluded that the studies succeeding VAWA indicated that violence against women had significantly decreased in the 10 years preceding the studies for every population except Native American women. These researchers also concluded that Native American women living on tribal lands account for the highest rates of exposure to violence compared to any other population. Despite these conclusions, Matamonasa-Bennett (2013) reported that Native American women continue to be underrepresented in research regarding violence against women. Prevalence of Violence Against Native American Women Determining the precise prevalence of violence among Native American women living on tribal lands is a complicated endeavor. There can be substantial differences between communities, leading to frequent misinterpretation in the results of research (Yuan et al., 2006). It is common that researchers report the prevalence of violence among Native Americans , even though the results of their studies accounted for the prevalence among a specific tribe . For this reason, it is important not to make generalizations regarding reports that do not expand to various regions by examining the methodological decisions of the researchers in order to better interpret the results (Gone, 2010). In response to the need for clarity on the prevalence of violence in tribal communities, Oetzel and Duran (2004) concluded that many researchers asked vague questions and excluded common types of physical violence, prompting them to investigate exposure to violence among Native American women by asking a wider range of specified questions. They determined that women in tribal communities reported the prevalence of violence exposure at rates ranging from 46–91%. They compared these results to non-Native populations, which had previously reported prevalence rates ranging from 7–51%. Similarly, Wahab and Olson (2004) examined the prevalence of physical violence among Native American women living on tribal lands while accounting for vast differences