Citation

Slattery SM, Goodman LA. Violence Against Women 2009; 15(11): 1358-1379.

Affiliation

Berklee College of Music, Boston. sslattery@berklee.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077801209347469

PMID

19809098

Abstract

This study identified workplace factors associated with secondary traumatic stress (STS) in a sample of 148 domestic violence advocates working in diverse settings. Findings indicate that coworker support and quality clinical supervision are critical to emotional well-being and that an environment in which there is shared power-that is, respect for diversity, mutuality, and consensual decision making-provides better protection for advocates than more traditional, hierarchical organizational models. Furthermore, shared power emerged as the only workplace variable to significantly predict STS above and beyond individual factors. The discussion includes implications for practice and policy as well as directions for future research.

Language: en