Vicarious traumatisation : the impact on police officials investigating crimes against children

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The purpose of the present study was to investigate the nature and incidence ofvicarious traumatisation (VT) amongst members of the South African Police ServiceChild Protection Unit. The concept of VT purports that as a result of their empathicengagement with the traumatic material of their clients, helpers will experiencedisruptions in their basic schemas relating to self and others, and may also experienceposttraumatic stress symptomatology in the form of intrusive images, thoughts, andavoidance phenomena. Two areas believed to be most susceptible to effects ofvicarious trauma were examined, namely five psychological need areas and relatedcognitive schemas, and the imagery component of the memory system. The latterincludes intrusion phenomena, which, in turn, give rise to a wide variety of ways ofavoidance. Furthermore, the relationship between VT and a number of potentiallyrelated variables, namely the helper's a previous trauma history of abuse and thecoping strategies utilised in an attempt to ameliorate the negative effects of vicarioustraumatisation, were examined.Participants included 29 members of the South African Police Service Child ProtectionUnit (CPU) in the Western Cape. The three control groups comprised mental healthprofessionals, outpatient mental health clients, and chronic mental health patients. TheTraumatic Stress Institute Belief Scale (Revision L)(TSIBS) was used to measuredisruptions in psychological need areas and related cognitive schemas. The Impact ofEvent Scale (IES) was utilised to measure the intrusion and/or avoidance symptomsassociated with posttraumatic stress disorder. The presence of a personal history ofphysical, sexual and/or emotional abuse among CPU members was determined bymeans of semi-structured questions. The COPE questionnaire was utilised to determinethe various coping strategies used by the participants in an attempt to deal with thestressors associated with providing a service to victims/survivors of sexual abuse.The results indicated that the CPU group exhibited significantly higher levels ofdisruption in their psychological need areas and related cognitive schemas than themental health professionals, significantly lower levels of disruption than the chronicmental health patients, and significantly higher levels of disruption than the outpatientmental health clients with regard to the following needs/schemas: safety (self andother), other-trust and other-esteem. With regard to intrusion and avoidancesymptomatology, it was evident that 75.9% of the CPU members were demonstratingsymptom levels corresponding to the high category of clinical concern. Relationshipsbetween a disruption of needs/schemas in general, and the incidence of intrusion andavoidance phenomena were insignificant. On the other hand, disruptions of certainspecific needs/schemas (i.e., self-esteem and other-intimacy) were significantlyassociated with the occurrence of intrusion and/or avoidance. No significant differencesbetween participants with and without a personal history of trauma were found. Withregard to the association between the functionality of coping strategies and vicarioustrauma symptomatology, a significant negative relationship was found between planning(a positive coping strategy) and a general disruption of needs/schemas, and significantpositive relationships between denial and behavioural disengagement (negative copingstrategies) and a general disruption of needs/schemas. These findings were consistentwith previous research that showed that the use of positive coping strategies areassociated with decreased levels of disruption in cognitive schemas, and that negativestrategies are associated with an increased level of cognitive disruption. Relationshipsbetween positive and negative coping strategies, and intrusion and avoidancesymptomatology were insignificant.Results from the present study strongly support the notion that as a result of theirinteraction with sexually abused children, police officials may be negatively impacted bytheir work. Furthermore, the findings of this study support the usefulness of the conceptof vicarious traumatisation in understanding the experience of the helper working withtraumatised clients. However, due to the complex nature of the construct of vicarioustraumatisation, further research into factors that may prevent, mitigate, or intensify theeffects of work with trauma survivors on helpers is crucial.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University