Citation

Baird S, Jenkins SR. Violence Vict. 2003; 18(1): 71-86.

Affiliation

University of North Texas, Denton 76203-1280, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Springer Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12733620

Abstract

This study investigated three occupational hazards of therapy with trauma victims: vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress (or "compassion fatigue"), which describe therapists' adverse reactions to clients' traumatic material, and burnout, a stress response experienced in many emotionally demanding "people work" jobs. Among 101 trauma counselors, client exposure workload and being paid as a staff member (vs. volunteer) were related to burnout sub-scales, but not as expected to overall burnout or vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, or general distress. More educated counselors and those seeing more clients reported less vicarious trauma. Younger counselors and those with more trauma counseling experience reported more emotional exhaustion. Findings have implications for training, treatment, and agency support systems.

Language: en