Abstract
Military Sexual Trauma (MST) is highly prevalent and related to many negative outcomes for victims. Social workers, particularly those in the Sacramento region, will likely work with former service members who have experienced MST, yet may know little about military culture. The purpose of this study was to examine whether a brief training would improve knowledge about MST and self-efficacy in working with survivors for undergraduate social work students. A convenience sample of 53 undergraduate social work students were recruited as participants. A non-experimental quantitative design was used, with pre-test and post-test surveys given to participants before and after a 30-minute MST presentation (n=53). The collected data was coded and analyzed using SPSS. Paired-samples t-tests were used to assess changes in knowledge about MST and self-efficacy. The results of the study found that both student knowledge and self-efficacy increased after the training. This research helps further knowledge about MST to future case managers and healthcare professionals who will work with MST survivors. The findings of this research showed that increasing student knowledge of MST is imperative due to Sacramento County containing the most veterans of any other Northern California County. The training in this study could inspire future healthcare workers and case managers to work with veteran populations.