Biography
Danielle Erinn Giebelhaus is a registered nurse working in addictions and mental health. She has her Master of Nursing degree from the University of Calgary and is passionate about raising awareness and increasing education about sexual exploitation within the medical field and beyond. She has two small sons, and she looks forward to raising them to love justice and protect the vulnerable.
Dr. Andrew Estefan is a registered psychiatric nurse and associate professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary. His teaching and research interests focus on the intersections of mental health and well-being, sexuality, and gender.
Abstract
The sexual exploitation of youth is a global concern. Youth survivors of sexual exploitation present to and require healthcare services, but most nurses do not feel effectively equipped to care for this population. There is currently little nursing literature to guide nurses in their practice with youth survivors. In this article, we report on a qualitative, hermeneutic study undertaken to explore nursing practice with youth survivors of sexual exploitation. Hermeneutics is concerned with understanding, and is a helpful way to conduct research when little is known about a topic. In this study, we asked the research question, “How might we understand nurses’ experiences of working with youth survivors of sexual exploitation?” The findings of this study are captured in three interpretations: (a) Stigma, Refuge, and Beautiful Words; (b) How to Convey Mattering to Youth Survivors of Sexual Exploitation; and (c) What Nurses Hold On to for Themselves and Their Patients. The findings point to a clear need for developing mandatory education and raising and building public awareness.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Giebelhaus, Danielle E. and Estefan, Andrew PhD, RPN (2025) "Resonant Disruptions: Understanding Canadian Nurses’ Practice with Youth Survivors of Sexual Exploitation," Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence: Vol. 10: Iss. 3, Article 9. https://doi.org/10.23860/dignity.2025.10.03.09
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