Vicarious trauma among social workers: The impact of client trauma
Date
2020
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Publisher
California State University, San Bernardino
Abstract
Social workers in the field of practice work with clients who share their
personal trauma history. By listening to traumatic events vicarious trauma can
develop and affect social workers mental health. Vicarious trauma is the
consequences of working with clients that have a traumatic past. This trauma
impacts social workers' job satisfaction, personal life, and mental health. This
paper will focus on the impacts of vicarious trauma and the level of experience in
the field of social work. Utilizing interviews and surveys the research intends to
understand the level of comprehension of new and experienced social workers in
vicarious trauma. Research will explore the barriers in practice on the individual
level and interagency level that affects social workers mental health. Findings
from the research conducted suggests that there is not a difference between
social workers and level of experience when combating the impacts of vicarious
trauma. The research displayed a key difference between Caucasian and
Hispanic social workers and the impacts of vicarious trauma. Caucasian
participants appear to be more vulnerable to the impacts of vicarious trauma
compared to their Hispanic counterparts. Further research should be conducted
in order to gain a better understand of the true impacts that VT has on social
workers of various experience levels, as well as various ethnicities.
Description
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Keywords
research, vicarious trauma, social workers, impact
Citation
Berrios, R., & Zarate, M. (2020). Vicarious trauma among social workers: The impact of client trauma. California State University, San Bernardino