Is Protecting Children Bad for Your Health?

Date

2005

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Archives of Disease in Childhood

Abstract

In the last few years a series of child abuse tragedies and fiercely contested murder trials has put paediatricians under the spotlight as never before. There is a growing reluctance among consultants and trainees to get involved in child protection. The attempt by Bennett and colleagues to measure and analyse the stress and burnout among child protection professionals in Canada is, therefore, very timely—but inevitably it also poses a number of further questions. Can slippery concepts like stress and burnout be reliably defined in operational terms? Is child protection different from other healthcare tasks and if so, does it affect different disciplines in different ways? Are there differences between countries and if so, do these relate to their cultural attitudes or child protection systems? Do stress and burnout affect people in other walks of life? And, most important, what are the risk factors for burnout and what might be done to reduce the risks of these (presumably) negative consequences of such work? (Author Introduction)

Description

Keywords

child abuse, vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, discussion

Citation

Hall, D. M. B. (2005). Is protecting children bad for your health?. Archives of disease in childhood, 90(11), 1105-1106.

DOI